Thursday, June 18, 2015

Michigan Agriculture Workgroup Recommends Legislation To Support Urban Livestock Operations







Of the 20 requests occurring after the new guidelines were issued, 6 of them were denied because the operations would have been too close to neighbors.

As explained by MDARD’s director of environmental stewardship, Jim Johnson, the denied sites “either had more than 13 homes within an eighth of a mile, or another residence within 250 feet.”

Although site inspectors generally try to help applicants determine if there is any possible way to create a permissible livestock operation on their property—such as by putting the animals near the back of the property—sometimes it is just not possible.

Even for those applicants who succeed in gaining site approval and Right to Farm protection, those in urban or suburban areas face the risk of their farms falling out of compliance as new houses go up.

After all, the Right to Farm protection was traditionally meant for rural farms, to shield them from encroaching residential development. As Johnson noted, it is uncertain what might happen to an approved farm in an already developed or still developing area.

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