By KEVIN WALKER

Michigan Correspondent

LANSING, Mich. — For Leroy Township Supervisor Laveta Hardish, the township’s recently adopted ordinance seeking to regulate farming is all about protecting township residents.

The ordinance in question is seen by state officials, however, as illegally “revising and extending” the state’s generally accepted agricultural and management practices, or GAAMPs. The GAAMPs are a set of regulations that farmers agree to adhere to in order to avoid nuisance lawsuits, for example, regarding livestock generated odors, noise and other matters.

The GAAMPs are embedded in the state’s Right to Farm Act (RTFA). Hardish and other members of the Calhoun County-based Leroy Township government say the new ordinance is just putting a “second set of eyes” on agricultural operations, especially large farms.

“The ordinance shouldn’t be that much of a problem,” she said. “We’d like to have some input as to what happens here, and we don’t want the fiasco that happened in Burlington Township to happen here.”

She was referring to a dispute where a large-scale farmer ended up buying out a neighbor’s house as a way of settling their differences. That farmer wasn’t in compliance with GAAMPs because the state ag department made a mistake in the way it measured the farm’s setback, said Matt Kapp, government relations specialist at the Michigan Farm Bureau.

But, he said, that doesn’t mean the RTFA doesn’t work. “How is the Leroy Township ordinance going to prevent what happened in Burlington Township?” he asked.

Leroy Township isn’t the only place where there are people pushing against the RTFA, but right now it’s the focus of the problem, Kapp added. “A lot of places have a ‘not in my backyard’ mentality and they want to regulate large livestock farms.”

He said the new pork processing plant in Branch County, south of Calhoun County, may be the source of the problem for residents who worry about large livestock operations. All of this led to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development requesting an attorney general’s opinion regarding RTFA, which was recently released.

“It is my opinion ... that unless otherwise approved under sections 4(7), 4(6) of the Right to Farm Act preempts provisions in ordinances adopted by local units of government that regulate farming activities when the Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development has developed generally accepted agricultural and management practices that address those farming activities,” stated state Attorney General Bill Schuette’s opinion, dated March 28.

“Agriculture is Michigan’s second-largest industry, but it will always be Michigan’s first and oldest industry,” he said in an accompanying press release. “Farming the land is part and parcel of what makes Michigan great. Whether it is raising livestock or growing commercial crops, Michigan is America’s agricultural powerhouse.

“This common sense opinion recognizes that the state’s Right to Farm Act preempts local ordinances from restricting the practice of farming. The law recognizes what we already know – farming is good for Michigan.”

Hardish responded to news of the opinion by saying “we don’t look at every attorney general opinion that comes out.”

Kapp said he’s concerned that the situation may ultimately play out in court and that local taxpayers will end up on the hook for a substantial legal bill.

“I also question what the point of all this is, because where’s the big farm that Leroy Township is trying to regulate?” Kapp asked.