Michigan Right to Farm Act in Jeopardy!! You must act now!

[RaZ]

So, what are they going to do to those people who already have livestock (cows, sheep, chickens, goats...)? That's a LOT of backyard animals across the state.

That is why MDARD wants to "punt" to local authorities to decide the fate of your livestock.

What CAN they do?

What would become of the animals? Confiscate them? Kill them? The outrage from animal rights groups and others would be enormous.

Who is going to foot the bill for all of that? The original owners? If someone tried to confiscate and kill my animals and THEN charge me for doing it, they could count on a lawsuit.

Perhaps they will 'grandfather' those with animals, but what about breeders and those who wish to maintain permanent flocks, therefore new animals? Would they grandfather the offspring?

What about our children and grandchildren who want and may by necessity need to keep animals?

They would just wait for the old farmers and backyard enthusiasts to die off and they would get their way in the end.

There can be no compromise!

Valid questions.
So far we have seen the armed DNR go onto farms and "order" the destruction of animals.
At the expense of the farmer.
Grandfathering is a legal myth with no weight in a court of law. It is considered a "privilege" not a "right.
Your children and grandchildren will lose the opportunity to decide if they want a farming lifestyle. The change is so onerous that even 4H and FFA may lose the opportunity to explore farming and animal husbandry. Keeping of any animal would be at the mercy of your local zoning board.

I agree, KatherineM. It would make for a mess for some folks in some places. Here, we are in the township and they don't much care what we do to a certain extent. We have rules, but as long as we ask for permission for something, they can usually find a way to make it work.

Reminds me of the issues down in KY with the size of the land dictating whether it is a farm or not. As if you couldn't farm successfully on 5 acres? Bureaucracy.

It would make a mess for most folks who want to be self-sustaining and provide good, wholesome food to their neighbors. Meanwhile, buried within the GAAMPs are easements for CAFOs to operate with little to no oversight in terms of animals welfare or environmental protections. Just how long will a local township permit small operations before they withdraw their "permission" to use your own land?

The proposed changes have no consideration of the negative impact that will occur. Should the changes be approved, even the Agriculture Commissioners would be impacted. If they rubber-stamp the changes, then 3 of 4 commissioners would likely lose RTFA protection. The trouble is, they don't realize it.

 

[Mustaq Varish]

Why do we not heer about WHO or WHY is wanting to make change to law that let me have happy chickens? Where I'm from you get no food free from state, I come america and want only to make good by my own work. Is the story at link here all about same problem? Maybe america not so good as we want think no more. Things change?

http://www.sott.net/article/272743-A-ban-on-owning-farm-animals-Michigan-is-considering-it

 

[Bluebonnet]

Why do we not heer about WHO or WHY is wanting to make change to law that let me have happy chickens? Where I'm from you get no food free from state, I come america and want only to make good by my own work. Is the story at link here all about same problem? Maybe america not so good as we want think no more. Things change?

http://www.sott.net/article/272743-A-ban-on-owning-farm-animals-Michigan-is-considering-it

Tyranny respects no national borders.

People think that tyranny can not gain a foothold here in America but it has before and no doubt will again.

Fortunately, the power to resist and defeat tyranny rests in the hearts and minds of every individual who would see freedom and justice prevail for themselves and their descendants.

Tyrannical governments come and go, but the will of the people to preserver never perishes from the earth and remains the one true and constant threat to the success of tyrants all over the world.

That is why the tyrants have historically gone after the basic necessities, like the ability to produce your own food, in order to make it difficult for men to resist.

Even if America were no longer the land of the free, it is still the home of the brave and it would only be a matter of time before good triumphs over evil.

Do not come to America or anywhere else for that matter because you feel like a government is capable of offering you a better life, because the only one who is capable of ensuring your happiness and standard of living is yourself, no matter where you are in the world.

They can pass all the ridiculous laws they want, but if they can not enforce them among the people, they fail.

It is the duty of every American to resist now, while it is easy to do so, rather than later, when it will be much more difficult to do so.

An ounce of prevention for a pound of cure!

 

[bluebirdnanny]

This is one reason I live sooooo far away from my children. I'd like to see them more but my desire to do something worthwhile for myself. Since I physically can not do a regular for pay job I do my best to grow food for myself (and share with food banks any excess) and I raise Chickens for eggs, meat, and to help with preservation of a particular old breed.

I do have friends who WANT eggs. I have sold to a couple but am not getting enough eggs right now as I am converting to the breeding line only. When there are enough "imperfect" to use as breeders their eggs will be sold again or consumed by me. Free ranged, old fashioned breed, organically based raising in a fresh air Woods style coop at night.

With my health issues I have held steady with no increase of severity since I began doing these things for myself and not eating as much of the commercial insecticide laden foods. I am on assistance for food but my dependence on it is less. Isn't supporting to help a person increase in self sufficiency the whole base of what the system was in the beginning? This way what money I do get as food credit can go toward the healthier raised food. ie organic, msg free etc. or seeds of such to grow more myself.

The Bible tells me to "work that you may have to give" and it gave soooo many examples of the poor reaping the edges of fields or working for the field owner. ie Ruth and Naomi. I will always do WHAT I CAN for myself AND others.

If Government decides to raid my home to take and distribute they won't find much to raid. And there is no way I will stop doing as I believe the Bible teaches me to do. I hunt my own land for meat to eat, grow what I can, raise chickens (not able to physically raise larger animals) for eggs.
But I still have to purchase flour etc.

Another thing for these Corporation types to consider....!!!!! People like me will die off if we can't do something for ourselves and then THEY will have NO one left to purchase ANY of their stuff anyway AND NO ONE healthy enough TO WORK FOR THEM!!!!!

 

[Bluebonnet]

This is one reason I live sooooo far away from my children. I'd like to see them more but my desire to do something worthwhile for myself. Since I physically can not do a regular for pay job I do my best to grow food for myself (and share with food banks any excess) and I raise Chickens for eggs, meat, and to help with preservation of a particular old breed.

I do have friends who WANT eggs. I have sold to a couple but am not getting enough eggs right now as I am converting to the breeding line only. When there are enough "imperfect" to use as breeders their eggs will be sold again or consumed by me. Free ranged, old fashioned breed, organically based raising in a fresh air Woods style coop at night.

With my health issues I have held steady with no increase of severity since I began doing these things for myself and not eating as much of the commercial insecticide laden foods. I am on assistance for food but my dependence on it is less. Isn't supporting to help a person increase in self sufficiency the whole base of what the system was in the beginning? This way what money I do get as food credit can go toward the healthier raised food. ie organic, msg free etc. or seeds of such to grow more myself.

The Bible tells me to "work that you may have to give" and it gave soooo many examples of the poor reaping the edges of fields or working for the field owner. ie Ruth and Naomi. I will always do WHAT I CAN for myself AND others.

If Government decides to raid my home to take and distribute they won't find much to raid. And there is no way I will stop doing as I believe the Bible teaches me to do. I hunt my own land for meat to eat, grow what I can, raise chickens (not able to physically raise larger animals) for eggs.
But I still have to purchase flour etc.

Another thing for these Corporation types to consider....!!!!! People like me will die off if we can't do something for ourselves and then THEY will have NO one left to purchase ANY of their stuff anyway AND NO ONE healthy enough TO WORK FOR THEM!!!!!

Something else to consider, you are a resource for persons like myself.

The whole shoving our parents and elderly in nursing homes is an underestimated disaster in my opinion, because without persons who keep to the old ways and who take the time to teach the next generation, we lose the ability to transfer essential knowledge of how to survive from one generation to the next.

We NEED persons like yourself in order to achieve a real and essential education on the important things in life. I would rank producing your own food pretty high on the list of essential knowledge that everyone should have.

Unfortunately, my generation is too busy trying to imitate the offensive lifestyles they see on the internet. If things ever get bad in this country, people like that are going to be hard up, because they will have to learn how to take care of themselves in a hurry or steal from someone else, which is going to be difficult, when you consider the competition they would face from their degenerate peers and others who do not have the ability and will to provide for themselves.

Makes me think of the aftermath of Katrina, as there were so many looters and so many who were waiting, expecting their government to come and take care of them and they died because they did not know how to take care of themselves. Not just ones in the immediate path of destruction, but also those who suffered from the suddenly desperate class that poured over into their cities, causing all kinds of chaos.

Even if for some reason you were adamantly opposed to individual animal ownership, overlooking the vital role that persons play in preserving our essential resources and diversity is a fatal mistake.

Makes me think of bananas. There is a fatal disease that killed off the main variety of commercial banana. If others had not preserved the other strains of bananas, we would not have the commercial bananas that we enjoy today. This issue is ongoing, but because other banana varieties were preserved, we can eventually overcome this issue.

Imagine if all the other chickens besides the commercial varieties died out. Imagine if all those chickens became infected by some killer illness and there was no other, more resistant breed to replace them because we did away with all the old time chicken keepers.

People act like it can't happen, but all it would take is misfortune or some terroristic yahoo bent on the destruction of our food supply to make it a reality.

Besides, this is about more than just chickens, such laws eventually spill over into regulation in other areas too and we need to put our collective boots to the bums of the individuals trying to pass this garbage.

 

[BigHope888]

Tyranny respects no national borders.

People think that tyranny can not gain a foothold here in America but it has before and no doubt will again.

Fortunately, the power to resist and defeat tyranny rests in the hearts and minds of every individual who would see freedom and justice prevail for themselves and their descendants.

Tyrannical governments come and go, but the will of the people to preserver never perishes from the earth and remains the one true and constant threat to the success of tyrants all over the world.

That is why the tyrants have historically gone after the basic necessities, like the ability to produce your own food, in order to make it difficult for men to resist.

Even if America were no longer the land of the free, it is still the home of the brave and it would only be a matter of time before good triumphs over evil.

Do not come to America or anywhere else for that matter because you feel like a government is capable of offering you a better life, because the only one who is capable of ensuring your happiness and standard of living is yourself, no matter where you are in the world.

They can pass all the ridiculous laws they want, but if they can not enforce them among the people, they fail.

It is the duty of every American to resist now, while it is easy to do so, rather than later, when it will be much more difficult to do so.

An ounce of prevention for a pound of cure!

Tyranny IS here. It is established and thriving. It may not be the physically brutalizing tyranny, like I saw in PBS's Frontline last night (adorable kids-5, 7, 9ish years old in Syria) describing the dangers of being kidnapped and seeing people blown apart, no, what we have here is economic tyranny. It rears its head in every corporation who de-beaks their laying hens. It's in the BPA in our plastics. It happens DAILY, to people who can not afford health care or medicine. Every time a decision is made to put money before the right thing to do. We live among it.

 

[Bluebonnet]

Tyranny IS here. It is established and thriving. It may not be the physically brutalizing tyranny, like I saw in PBS's Frontline last night (adorable kids-5, 7, 9ish years old in Syria) describing the dangers of being kidnapped and seeing people blown apart, no, what we have here is economic tyranny. It rears its head in every corporation who de-beaks their laying hens. It's in the BPA in our plastics. It happens DAILY, to people who can not afford health care or medicine. Every time a decision is made to put money before the right thing to do. We live among it.

It takes baby steps, testing the waters of how far it can go, allowing the people to become accustomed to it as if it were normal.

That is part of what makes it so dangerous, because if folks can not take a stand on the things that are smaller and easier to change, why would tyrants think they would take a stand when it would be much more difficult to do?

The right to own farm animals in Michigan, a State that has a rich farming history, seems abundantly clear to anyone with good sense.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Each of you that wants your few chickens in your backyard, would you also have the same zeal if your neighbor chose to house 4000 chickens on their property? After all, that is allowed under the current regulations.

Its just a question. I don't live in Michigan so I don't have a dog in this hunt.

 

[Bluebonnet]

Each of you that wants your few chickens in your backyard, would you also have the same zeal if your neighbor chose to house 4000 chickens on their property? After all, that is allowed under the current regulations.

Its just a question. I don't live in Michigan so I don't have a dog in this hunt.

Just because you and I do not live in Michigan, does not mean we do not have a dog in the hunt. If such ridiculous laws come to pass in a historical farming State such as Michigan, they will be able to pass it everywhere else, with much more ease thanks to an example being set. Chicken owners are in this together, where ever they may be. We must remain united to defend our rights.

If my neighbors chose to raise 4,000 chickens, it would not matter at all to me, as I have acreage, but for those that do not enjoy that barrier, remember that chicken owners have to maintain a humane amount of space for chickens, lest they risk having animal control and having animal rights activists breathing down their necks.

You make it sound like government is more capable of working out issues between neighbors than the neighbors themselves.

More government regulation is not going to magically prevent you from getting stuck with a bad neighbor.

How many people do you know keep 4,000 chickens in their backyard?

For me, the answer is 0, zero, zip, zilch.

Let's try to keep things realistic here.

 

[Mustaq Varish]

So...a pretty impressive showing yesterday at the M.D.O.A. meeting in Lansing I must say. Still, don't let your guard down as we all know vigilance is the eternal requirement to defend freedom. I'm unfamiliar with the "GAAMP"s review process but it seems perhaps that proposed changes to the GAAMPs are made once annually at the January meeting of the AG board and then the commissioners mull it over and vote on which (if any) proposed changes to incorporate into current (enforceable) guidelines in March of each year? Seems this year due to the amount of interest (outrage), they made an additional opportunity for the public to weigh-in at yesterday's meeting. I'm thinking NEXT MONTH will be when they actually decide what to do with the proposed changes. Seems to me this can't be a continually-evolving process and at some point, they should be able to put this all to bed until the next opportunity comes up (next January). I loved the suggestion by the newest board commissioner to have the GAAMPs panel go back to the drawing board and try to develop some rules for operators in residentially-zoned areas instead of simply using that broad-brush to put us in a category where our activities are entirely precluded altogether. It was funny when the one guy from the GAAMPs revision board started tap-dancing and talked about creating a "win-win" scenario and that the GAAMPs would not stand in the way of residential farming so long as local administrations were approving of the concept! Ha! They have gone full-circle from 1981 when they sought to increase the amount of acreage devoted to farming to trying to spin control right-back to local municipalities. A brilliant dodge on behalf of the same guy when a different commissioner tried to get to the root who and why wanted these changes when he asked..."how have your positions changed between when you originally created the GAAMPs versus what was being proposed now?...and the guy responded with..."well, I used to be the director of a farm cooperative but now I sit on the GAAMPs development panel" or something like that. Personally I don' think that was the kind of response the commissioner was looking for. More likely what he wanted to know was ..."What driving forces have been at work lately to demand such a demonic, blatant and aggregious reversal of the very reason for the Right to Farm Act itself?" We can speculate all day long but in reality, the reasons they are trying to abolish back-yard farming have yet to be dragged into the sunlight for examination and condemnation. As we've seen before, the panel of commissioners gavce plenty of clues they weren't buying any of their backsliding hogwash and saw right through their attempts to dismantle the Right to Farm Act. I expect the commissioners will do the right thing in the end here and NOT ADOPT the changes as written and send these folks back to the drawing board until next year. Rest assured however they will back again with the same mission and our job is to ensure we DOUBLE or TRIPLE the number of backyard farmers between now and then so our voices are even stronger next time. Any fool can see how agribusiness has had the opportunity to produce high-quality and nutritious food for the masses and blown it. How many times have we heard about massive recalls of lettuce and spinach with ecoli and people keeling over at the salad bar? Why the day before the meeting I heard again about some 90 million pounds of contaminated beef again from California. They had a chance and blew it, Hell they were even subsidized with our taxpayer money and managed to poison us for the privaledge. And now they tell us we can't feed ourselves on our own land? Oh, and another note...I heard more than once that the M.R.T.F.A. is there to protect "businesses" so you'd be doing yourself a favor to get registered with the state as an L.L.C. so, pick a cool name for your "company" and spend the couple hundred bucks to be legit. Then all you need to do is "intend" to sell your products and you are within the guidelines for protection. Stand strong and keep communicating. Lord knows you can't count on the mass-media to give you anything of value in terms of news anymore. The collapse is well underway. Time to learn more about the U.N. and Agenda 21.