Michigan Right to Farm Law, what does it mean?

[wendorfa]

To*

 

[LauraandDan]

The village is already on me to get rid of my Chickens, Now I am a nuisance to the community. My Attorney said nothing I can do

 

[Blooie]

Then I'd be happy to oblige them, if I were you. I'd put the whole kit and kaboodle right smack dab in the middle of the town hall. "Here, fellas, you wanted my chickens, so here they are!"

 

[RaZ]

Two months ago, I noticed that the ALEC "model" for a RTFA was word-for-word what the 1999 Michigan law was amended to. So I asked the MDARD deputy director which came first; ALEC or the MI law (the dep. dir. was part of the change at the time). Well he waffled and said to ask the MDARD attorney who also one of the authors of the amendment. Again, I did not get an answer.

After some research I find this: http://www.alec.org/model-legislation/right-to-farm-act/.

Approved by ALEC Board of Directors in 1996.​

There is little doubt that ALEC wrote this law and MDA (now MDARD) was just a tool. I'm willing to bet that us small farmers citing the law equally, rubs the big agribusiness the wrong way and that is why we have lost access to use the law.

MDARD, with a chessy, confusing policy change has circumvented equal protection under the law without actually changing the law.

 

[wingless]

Actually, I am not sure if MDA stole the language from ALEC, or if ALEC stole the language from Michigan's Right to Farm Act. Engler was the Governor here at that time, and was one of the founders or original members of ALEC.

Some small parts of the story are at the link below. Note also that that page has the changes made to our RTFA in 1995; you would have to figure out what the law said then, after all the changes in both 1987 and in 1995, to determine if what ALEC said in 1996 was already present in our law in 1995… wait, I have a spreadsheet that already does some of that work, and it is on the same page. Let's see if I can include that link here: RTF - Structure of the Law and its Amendments

Otherwise you can find it on this page: http://sustainablefarmpolicy.org/the-law/

 

[wingless]

Ok, bonus. I added the 1996 ALEC language to that spreadsheet, so now if you open that file you see that the first columns show the 1981 RTFA, and then the next set of columns the changes after the 1987 amendment, then the 1995 amendment, then the 1996 ALEC language, then the 1999 amendment.

It looks kind of goofy because I had to cut and paste from a lot of documents to get it all in there - but if you want to know what the law said at various moments, and which parts of the 1996 ALEC law already existed in the 1995 Michigan law - well, you should be able to figure it out from that document.

A great deal of what ALEC said in their model law in 1996, I think, was already present in Michigan in 1995.

 

[Mustaq Varish]

Here's an interesting article about "Big Ag" and what's driving the changes. Amazing and absolutely insidious.

http://www.dailyimpact.net/2014/06/...ign=Feed:+dailyimpact/GIfx+(The+Daily+Impact)

 

[wingless]

And from one of the links in that paper is this:

"We need to urgently put land back in the hands of small farmers and make the struggle for agrarian reform central to the fight for better food systems."

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/28/farmland-food-security-small-farmers


I agree. I think this is not just about chickens. It is about a broken food system and how to begin fixing it.

 

[tntchix]

And from one of the links in that paper is this:

"We need to urgently put land back in the hands of small farmers and make the struggle for agrarian reform central to the fight for better food systems."

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/28/farmland-food-security-small-farmers


I agree. I think this is not just about chickens. It is about a broken food system and how to begin fixing it.

YES!

 

[jimmywalt]

IT'S A VERY SAD DAY TODAY..............

Yesterday when we got home we found a notice on the door from the township letting us know that we couldn't have our chickens any longer. We weren't in compliance with the zoning for farm animals since we live in a subdivision and don't have enough land to be within the ordinance. We hade a very nice coop that I built with an enclosed run were they couldn't get out and they were very quiet too.

Last year in March we got our first 3 chicks for my son who was 3 years old at the time. Within a few weeks we got 2 more. Our 5 chickens gave us eggs almost every day once they started. This spring we got 3 more and they are growing up great. Probably would lay eggs near the end of July, but we won't get to see that now.

Our 4 year old son is very sad to see his pets (who each have a name) go. He fed them scratch each day as dad collected the eggs. It's hard explaining to a 4 year old that he won't see his "chicken nuggets" anymore.

What a shame........ and it's all because of a neighbor 3 houses down decided to call the township on us because I didn't appreciate a cat being allowed to run around my yard and use the bathroom, come in my garage, and kill the baby birds living in our trees.

Terrible that people can be such jerks and do things that make a small innocent child loose his pets.

It was great finding this website and all the things I learned on it and the things I got to share. Made friends with some of you and had a great time telling our chicken stories..... But I guess that's all done now. We have to have them cleared out in the next few days.

Wish for my little boy there was some way to keep them, but I'm sure we can't.

Thanks again everyone! Happy chicken keeping to you!