LANSING, Mich. — This has been a positive year for agriculture and for the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD). In fact, it’s been a good past few years for MDARD, said its director, Jamie Clover Adams.

“It’s been a really good year. Agriculture had a $101 billion impact on Michigan’s economy this year,” Clover Adams said of 2014. That figure represents an 8 percent increase over the prior year.

One of MDARD’s major goals was to double Michigan’s agricultural exports, which it is now close to doing. Between 2011 and the end of 2014, Michigan had exports worth $3.5 billion.

“We saw real growth in dry milk powder, timber, fruit and the usual grains,” she stated.

The biggest markets for Michigan’s agricultural exports are, in first place, Canada, followed by Mexico, South Korea, Japan and China. Speaking of Canada, Clover Adams said it’s “wonderful” it’s so close to Michigan, because this gives small companies in the state a chance to get into the export market.

Speaking of recent achievements, Clover Adams said Continental Dairy is shipping a great deal of dry milk to China these days. Continental Dairy began its life two years ago in Coopersville after having received a huge amount of assistance from MDARD personnel.

Dairy plants have to jump through numerous hoops to meet legal requirements in order to start processing milk. Now the plant is one of the largest dairy processing plants to be constructed in the state in the past 20 years.

According to a November 2012 statement from MDARD, hundreds of staff hours were spent reviewing equipment diagrams, conducting initial inspections, ensuring producer security requirements, training staff and other matters.

VernDale Products is another more recent example of agricultural expansion. Just last September the company, a national provider of roller-dried whole milk powder, celebrated the official opening of its new Weaver Street facility in Detroit. The expansion doubled the whole milk powder production capacity of the company. It added 10-15 new jobs and helped restore an abandoned building in the city.

Clover Adams said VernDale is a maker of dry milk powder for the high-end chocolate industry. The roller-dried process of making milk powder is now preferred by many chocolatiers.

Five different dairy plants either expanded or were started in 2014. MDARD staff met with these businesses to help get them going on their timetable, as much as possible.

Clover Adams also highlighted the Michigan Environmental Agriculture Assurance Program (MAEAP), a voluntary environmental program that provides a verification, or certificate, to growers who meet certain requirements.

“We have a goal of 5,000 verifications altogether and now we’re halfway there,” she said.

She added Gov. Rick Snyder has put $1.2 million into MAEAP since his tenure began. Thirty-five technicians are out in the field doing verifications for the MAEAP program.

“It’s voluntary to get into the MAEAP program, but you have to meet that standard to get that MAEAP verification,” she said. “My goal is to make EPA a believer in voluntary programs. Farmers make those changes and make it a habit. They pass those changes onto their children.”

Finally, Clover Adams said Snyder asked that “we get rid of obsolete rules. So far, we’ve gotten rid of 41 percent of MDARD rules. Of course, you have to have some rules.”

She explained 100 of 382 of those rules were substantive. Some, however, pertained to laws that are no longer on the books. She stated when rules are cleaned up it makes life much easier for the business community.

In looking to 2015, she said labor is going to be a big issue. Finding the workforce agriculture needs is a “big goal,” she stated. “I’ve spent a lot of time talking to groups about workforce in ag. There’s a lot of skills in ag and I don’t think a lot of people know that,” she said.