Michigan’s Corn Producers Vote Down Proposed Assessment Increase

Feb 29, 2024

Michigan’s corn producers have voted down a proposed assessment increase under the state’s Agriculture Commodities Marketing Act, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development announced today which ran the referendum for the Corn Marketing Program.

MDARD received a total of 1,317 ballots with 107 of those ballots being disqualified as invalid. Of the valid 1,210 referendum ballots to determine whether to increase the assessment of Michigan corn by additional $0.01 per bushel, 583 producers voted yes (48 percent) representing 41,612,583 bushels of corn (43 percent) and 627 producers voted no (52 percent) representing 55,402,313 bushels of corn (57 percent).

For the amendment to pass, more than 50 percent of the producer votes cast, representing more than 50 percent of the total number of bushels represented on the cast ballots, must approve it.

The assessment remains at $0.01 per bushel of Michigan corn as supported by growers during the 2023 referendum.

Source : michigan.gov

Video: Farm Health Guardian | Digital Biosecurity in Real Time

Disease risk, biosecurity, and real-time monitoring continue to be major topics across the pork industry. In this episode of Swine Web Industry Perspectives, presented by Farm Health Guardian, we discuss how digital biosecurity and real-time data are changing the way producers think about herd protection, people movement, and operational decision-making.

The conversation explores:

disease risk in modern pork production,

the impact of people movement on biosecurity,

the importance of real-time monitoring,

digital biosecurity technology,

and how Farm Health Guardian developed tools designed to support modern swine operations.

As the industry continues focusing on prevention, preparedness, and operational efficiency, connected technologies and actionable data are becoming increasingly important parts of modern herd health management.