Michigan Right to Farm Law, what does it mean?

[blackswan]

I just got off the phone with Eric-an assistant to Andrea LaFontaine. I summarized my experience with trying to change my local ordinance and subsequent denial. I asked that Ms. LaFontaine assist my efforts for keeping BYC as I am protected by the MRTFA since I have people interested in purchasing my eggs when they start to produce (of course after i actually GET my chickens). I wanted her "clout" as a state rep to back my statement to the city council.

Eric said that he (and Andrea) are familiar with this exact situation as it occured in my neighboring township and he had confirmed the interpretation of the MRTFA (really it's not a matter of interpretation, it's CLEAR language) to that local government. They had contacted the Michigan farm bureau, who also agreed that the language of MRTFA is clear and local ordinances are superceeded. He mentioned Vikki's case and I said I was very familiar with this case. He said he will again contact the MFB on my behalf.

Secondly, he said he would speak to Andrea and see to what extent she can assist my efforts and "educate" my city council. Andrea and I spoke face to face right before my inital request to the city council.

I also mentioned that there are proposed changes to GAAMPS -a completely different battle now.

I will keep you all updated.

 

[blackswan]

And.....I just heard back from the manager of the farmers' market and my request to sit at the community table to share information about BYC to our community during the market time has been denied.

I am not a 'good fit' because I'm not an official group like the red hat society. I personally spoke to the manager and she was supportative, but the group as a whole voted no.

I'm not sure of my next step. If I want to spark interest in a positive way I really thought the farmers' market would be the perfect venue and audience. I could make up a 'group', but I don't even have a coop yet.

Does anyone know of a group in SE Mich....maybe Urban Farming? We would fall under that umbrella.

 

[wingless]

blackswan, when I signed up to speak at the last Ag Commission meeting, one of the questions asked was who I represented. All I could say is "myself" - and ever since then I've been thinking about whether we here on the Michigan RTF thread should create an organization to represent the interests of urban farmers in Michigan. If we organized, you could represent the group at your farmer's market, for example, and I (and others) could represent the group at Ag commission meetings. As a group, we could request that we be represented on the different GAAMPS committees - or on the Ag Commission itself - to ensure that our concerns are considered when changes are made that affect us. And, we could also work to accumulate ordinance information across the state, and help develop materials and strategies for those trying to change their local ordinances.

This is all half-baked, of course, but something to think about...

 

[blackswan]

I believe 'we' could start a group. IMHO we should consider ourselves urban farmers rather than chicken farmer specific. I will be doing some research and find some Michigan urban farmer 'experts' to call upon. The 'work' of urban farming may already be out there and we just need to either join or ask for assistance. I believe that with the changes suggested in GAAMPS-2012 there MUST be other groups very interested in voicing their opinions. I know this is a hot topic for the City of Detroit. I also realize that the 2012 GAAMPS specifically defers to local government when the population is over 100,000.
We could represent the Chicken portion of urban farming.

I like the idea of this being a group effort to come to one goal.

Responsible, sucessful, sustainable urban chicken farming.

Michelle

PS I have contacted http://www.michiganfood.org/

 

[MI-CHick]

I agree we should find out about become an offical urban farming group. This would also cover issues like the Oak Park woman who couldn't plant veggies out front. No idea where to start but we need to keep the language out that allows site selection to pertain only to areas that are ag zoned. We need to allow urban farming in the residential areas

 

[wingless]

My impression from attending the last Ag Commission meeting, and then meeting some of the folks at MDARD, is that they have no idea that there are large numbers of urban chicken farmers out here who are distressed by their actions. They seemed shocked, and gave me all kinds of advice on how to get involved to get my opinion heard. It made me understand that if we want to be heard the first thing we need to do is to show up.

I also opened every set of Ag Commission minutes since the December 2011 meeting, when those 2012 GAAMPS were passed, and searched on something like "right to farm" - and found nothing. So I don't think any outside group came to the Ag Commission to voice their opinions about the 2012 GAAMPS.

And then many months ago I undertook the kind of search you're talking about, to identify existing non-profits or organizations with like-minded interests, and didn't find any that seemed to me to be a very good fit. So while I absolutely agree that the easiest way to move forward would be to align with an existing group, I think folks here may actually be the most educated, most committed urban RTF group out there. Not sure if there are enough of us with enough time to pull something like this off, but I think if what we want is an organization of urban farming advocates in Michigan, we might have to build it ourselves.

 

[blackswan]

From my search this am, I get the impression that 'Urban Farming' is not necessarily on one's own 'land', but rather re-purposing urban lots or reclaiming them for a good purpose. That isn't to say that we couldn't be included. Additionally, we could be considered under homesteading. I think it is a matter of farm (commercial purposes seeking protection undert RTFA) or homesteading (which would mean fighting 'city hall' and possibly deed restrictions). I do not know if deed restrictions are voided (much like local ordinances) with the RTFA. The reason I bring up deed restrictions is that it was one of the arguments that was used against my request for an ordinance change.

http://www.beginningfarmers.org/ THis may be another resource

My guess is that deed resrictions were put into place when our land in Michigan was zoned. Of course, we had a different type of farming then and accesss to food. Increased population and urban sprawl and less farmland. Fast forward ... what...50 or so years and here we are.

I'm still waiting to hear from Eric (an assistant to Andrea LaFontaine).

MB

 

[blackswan]

My impression from attending the last Ag Commission meeting, and then meeting some of the folks at MDARD, is that they have no idea that there are large numbers of urban chicken farmers out here who are distressed by their actions. They seemed shocked, and gave me all kinds of advice on how to get involved to get my opinion heard. It made me understand that if we want to be heard the first thing we need to do is to show up.

I also opened every set of Ag Commission minutes since the December 2011 meeting, when those 2012 GAAMPS were passed, and searched on something like "right to farm" - and found nothing. So I don't think any outside group came to the Ag Commission to voice their opinions about the 2012 GAAMPS.

And then many months ago I undertook the kind of search you're talking about, to identify existing non-profits or organizations with like-minded interests, and didn't find any that seemed to me to be a very good fit. So while I absolutely agree that the easiest way to move forward would be to align with an existing group, I think folks here may actually be the most educated, most committed urban RTF group out there. Not sure if there are enough of us with enough time to pull something like this off, but I think if what we want is an organization of urban farming advocates in Michigan, we might have to build it ourselves.

I didn't realize you had already done this search. I posted a few links.. .were any of those groups in your search? Did you contact anyone?
I'm perfectly willing to organize, but my time commitment would be limited to after work and some weekends.

Please elaborate on the recommendations you were given at the MDRAD meeting. Sounds like they want to be a part of the solution, which is a great place to start.

Things to think about
1. Name of the group
2, Mission/goals
3. Resources-we could pull from other established groups and invite.
4. Meetings/communication

 

[MI-CHick]

The problem with showing up to the meeting is geography. Not everyone is able to make the meetings because of the distance. Should we be contacting our state reps about this?

 

[Carin]

In todays environment would a Skype conference not be possible? Just a thought. We tend to forget about technology as we are not working with it everyday.