By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent

LANSING, Mich. — Legislation pending in the Michigan House of Representatives would provide a new supply of money for agricultural innovation.

Officials in charge of the grant program, also called the Julian-Stille Value-Added Program, awarded $5 million to agriculture-related projects across the state in 2006. Although the bill to authorize the other $5 million hasn’t been signed into law yet, it’s looking as if there is bipartisan support for the measure.

“I suspect it will move before spring break,” said Jeff Cobb, a spokesman for State Sen. Gerald Van Woerkem (R-Muskegon), the bill’s sponsor. “I would think (Gov. Jennifer Granholm) would sign it. It came out of the Senate unanimously; it came out of the House Agriculture Committee unanimously.”

Robert Craig, director of the agricultural development division at the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA), was also optimistic.
“It’s expected to be supported and passed by the House, I hope within the next 30 days,” Craig said. He added he would be pleased if the legislation passed by spring break, which is less than two weeks away.

According to Cobb, the $5 million was already appropriated when the program was started a few years ago. Originally, $10 million was appropriated for the program, but only half of that was for grants. The other half was to be disbursed as loans.
Cobb said for whatever reason, “the loan program never really took off.” The legislation, Senate Bill 134, would authorize the loan money to be disbursed as grants.

Craig was enthusiastic about the program and mentioned a couple of award recipients, including Casco Township, near South Haven on the shores of Lake Michigan. Casco Township was awarded $59,443 to develop a marketing program to draw locals and out-of-town tourists into the township to shop and enjoy the farm culture.
He noted that Casco Township is “east of the highway” and could easily be missed by tourists that vacation along the shore.

“They’ve been very creative about putting together a number of businesses,” he said. He noted one of the new businesses is a winery. “They not only attract locals, but also a lot of people from Chicago. They did some good market research. Julie (Cowie), the Casco Township clerk, was the mastermind.”

Craig also mentioned Fresh Solutions Farms, which is a vegetable storage and distribution facility in White Pigeon. “They really provide high quality potatoes and onions,” he said. “They expect to have an impact on other markets with, again, Michigan produce.”
Fresh Solutions was the largest award recipient, receiving $315,000 in agricultural innovation funds. According to Craig, the minimum match is 10 percent, but the company in this instance put in $16 million of its own money.

“The grants have been such a winner for the state of Michigan and our economy,” he said.

For a summary of the program, a recently released 14-page report is available online at www.michigan.gov/mda

A call to the governor’s office seeking comment on the pending legislation was not returned as of press time.