EAGLE, Mich. – A few proposed manufacturing plants in Michigan are causing concerns among supporters of agriculture as the plants would take acreage out of production. 

One of the proposed plants would be built in Eagle, Mich., not far from Grand Ledge, which is located northwest of Lansing. It would be built primarily on the former Dave Morris farm, which he gifted to Michigan State University (MSU) to fund several endowments within the university’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, with the caveat that the farm would be leased and operated to the Clark family for a 25-year period. Morris died in 2009. “None of the residents near the site want this,” said Eagle resident Cori Feldpausch, who is heading up opposition to the plant in Eagle. “We’re fighting this because we say this is rural. It is all farmland. It was important to Dave Morris that the land would continue to be farmed.”

According to Feldpausch, the state of Michigan would purchase the land from the university with taxpayer funds. The Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP) is also helping to make the deal happen. LEAP CEO Robert Trezise said that Dave Morris’ wish was to fund an endowment for statewide farming best practices, which “will have a greater benefit to farmers than what it’s currently being used for, which is corn farming. I don’t think it’s a conflict, I think it’s more complex than that,” he said. Trezise said no company has chosen the site as of yet, however, he stated that he’s hoping for a chip making plant because “it would have a very quiet, high tech feel to it.”

Trezise also appealed to people’s sense of nationalism and patriotism. “Sixty-five percent of all the chips made in America right now are made in Taiwan,” Trezise said. “I don’t think we want to wake up in 10 years and find out we don’t have any chips. Taiwan is under threat right now.” He said he’s hoping that the master plan and rezoning process will be completed this summer. Another Eagle resident, small farmer and data scientist Troy Stroud, is against the proposed development. Stroud, who raises heritage sheep, chickens and quarter horses, lives less than two miles from the proposed megasite, which would comprise about 2,000 acres and 15 additional properties. “This is a marketing firm using tax dollars to do whatever they want,” Stroud said, referring to LEAP. “They want to make all these changes before they even have a buyer. They want to create a turnkey property. Local zoning will help to stop it or slow it down.” 

Stroud said he also has environmental concerns, including that local migratory birds could be affected, included blue herons, sandhill cranes and bald eagles. He said there are also a few different kinds of hawks and falcons in the area. He’s also concerned that the wells that would be dug for the plant would affect the nearby river where he kayaks. 

The site in Eagle is not the only one that’s being proposed in Michigan. Plants that would also be financed at least in part with state taxpayer funds are in developmental stages in both Marshall, Mich. and in Green Twp., Mich. not far from Big Rapids. The plant in Marshall would be an electric vehicle battery plant that would be owned by Ford Motor Co. and managed by a China based company called Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., or CATL. An electrical vehicle battery plant is also proposed for a site in Green Twp., which would be managed by another China based firm called Gotion. “It’s been eating me alive,” said Dave Bosserd of the controversy surrounding what’s known as the Ford Blue Oval plant in Marshall. Bosserd, a farmer based in Calhoun County, is also the Marshall Twp. supervisor. He refused to talk at greater length, saying he’d already been through the wringer with a recent controversy about a solar energy park, which he said is “going to go in.” Also, late last week the Michigan legislature gave its final approval for Gotion, a Chinese firm, to build a battery plant in Green Twp. The plant, which had been planned for Big Rapids, was pushed away by local officials there after they requested a national security review of the proposed deal.