A representative of the Michigan Farm Bureau told the Michigan House Agriculture Committee about the group's education and outreach programs, a labor-service business and an early-stage venison-donation initiative, and committee members questioned how policy could help with insurance, tariffs, avian influenza and recruiting young farmers.

Rebecca Park, representing the Michigan Farm Bureau, said the organization was founded in 1919 and described a range of programs. “Every day we work for…a variety of ways to represent our members. We are grassroots and member driven,” she said. Park highlighted Ag in the Classroom, a K–12 literacy and outreach effort; farm science labs and a farm science van that bring hands-on, standards-aligned lessons to schools; and “farm crates,” which the Farm Bureau packs and ships during the school year.

Park described Michigan Farm Bureau’s workforce service Great Lakes Ag Labor Services, created in 2015 to assist farmers with federally authorized temporary workers and with employer/employee trainings; she said the organization brought 2,500 workers to Michigan in the prior year and has expanded services to other states. She also described a social mission to direct $1 from each insurance policy sold toward childhood hunger efforts and noted local volunteer days and matching-grant partnerships with county Farm Bureaus.

On a new venison-donation idea, Park said the Farm Bureau is “working on the task force” to identify short- and long-term approaches for collecting and processing donated venison to put protein into charitable food systems; she described the initiative as “in the infancy” stage and said processing costs and partnerships (for example with the Department of Natural Resources and sporting-hunter groups) are part of the work.

Park gave high-level industry figures: she said Michigan agriculture contributes about $104,700,000,000 annually to the state economy, employs roughly 800,000 people in the food and agriculture workforce, supports more than 1,000 dairy farms and more than 400,000 cows producing over 12 billion pounds of milk.

Members asked questions. Representative Kerry Reingans asked whether insurance trends or tariff policy changes suggest regulatory actions legislators should consider; Park said Farm Bureau is “watching closely” on tariffs at the federal level and offered to follow up with more detailed insurance information after consulting Farm Bureau staff. Representative Sarah Leitner asked for details about how the venison program would handle processing costs and noted counties sometimes fund processor reimbursements; Park said the task force will examine partners and cost models and pointed to existing county and nonprofit examples. Representative Jennifer Wirtz asked how to attract younger producers; Park said Farm Bureau policy favors beginning-farmer programs such as tax credits or other incentives used in other states.

Committee members expressed interest in the Farm Bureau’s literacy materials: Park offered to coordinate distribution and noted members can order additional copies on the Farm Bureau website and follow up offline.