By Gail Philbin, Assistant Director, Michigan Sierra Club, May 15, 2014
The Michigan Sierra Club appreciates the opportunity to
speak before this committee on the recent changes to the Siting GAAMPs that
removed Right to Farm protection for many urban and suburban farmers. We opposed those changes, and I’ve included a
copy of our comments to the Michigan Agriculture Commission along with these
comments to this committee.
The public outcry following the Michigan Agriculture
Commission’s action on April 28 shows that it touched a nerve. One of the hottest
trends in food in Michigan is the public demand for access to more local, sustainable meat, dairy, poultry and eggs, and one sure way to get it is
to grow your own. More people are returning to a practice common a century
ago of raising a flock of
chickens in the back yard for fresh eggs, for example, as the best way to ensure their families have safe, healthy
food in an era of animal factories.
The Commission’s action has also opened up an important
and long overdue dialogue about our food system and what our priorities should be
as we navigate a future of greater challenges to our water supply and increasingly
volatile weather events. Do we want to put all our eggs in the factory farm
basket, so to speak, with its resource-intensive practices that pollute our
water, land and air? Or do we foster diversity, sustainability and independence
by protecting the right of citizens to raise their own food if they choose?
The Michigan Sierra Club hopes that, as the committee
looks into the issues raised by the recent GAAMPs changes, it recognizes that
the people of Michigan want and deserve access to healthy, safe food. The desire is evidenced by the wild popularity
of farmers markets and community supported agriculture around the state, and,
yes, by the growing numbers of urban and suburban backyard farmers. We urge you
to explore options that will protect these small but important pieces of our
food system’s future.
Thank you.
