By KEVIN WALKER

Michigan Correspondent

LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Rick Snyder has made several new appointments to the Michigan Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development (MCARD).

MCARD has the responsibility to recommend and, in some cases, determine policy on food, agricultural and rural development issues. The commission is a bipartisan body of five citizens appointed by the governor.

The three officers Snyder picked include Bob Kennedy, an area manager at The Andersons, a major grain handler. Kennedy is a past board member and chair of the Michigan Agri-Business Assoc. He also owns and lives on a small farm in Saginaw County with his wife and two children, and is an active hunter and fisherman.

Another pick is Trever Meachum, a production manager for High Acres Fruit Farm, a family-run 3,000-acre fruit, vegetable and cash crop farm in Van Buren County. He farms with his parents and two brothers, serves as the secretary of the Hartford Township Planning Commission and is a member of the Michigan Agricultural Cooperative Assoc. Apple Committee.

The third pick is Brian Pridgeon, owner of Pridgeon Farms, a seventh-generation hog operation that markets 70,000 animals each year. He is secretary of the Michigan Pork Producers’ board of directors and the young farmer chair and executive committee member of the Branch County Farm Bureau.

“I appreciate the shared passion these individuals demonstrate for Michigan’s food and agriculture community by volunteering their time to serve on the commission,” said Jamie Clover Adams, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. “The commission helps identify and support ag innovation, economic development and educational opportunities for consumers, farmers and agri-food businesses.”

The other members of the commission are Diane Hanson and Dru Montri. Hanson is a third-generation owner and operator of Hanson Seed Farm with her husband, Dennis, and two sons, Scott and Ted. They raise more than 250 acres of seed potatoes, along with small grains, hay and beef cattle.

She is active in local, state and national agricultural groups. She was appointed to the U.S. Potato Board in 2010, serves on the Hiawathaland Farm Bureau as a director and past president, and is a member of the Upper Peninsula Potato Growers, the Michigan Potato Industry and the Potato Growers of Michigan.

Montri owns and operates Ten Hens Farm, a year-round farm in Bath. According to an MDARD summary, she is committed to the regional food system network. She is director of Governmental Affairs and Stakeholder Relations for the Michigan State University Colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Veterinary Medicine.

Montri has a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from MSU and a masters in horticulture from Penn State. She also holds a PhD in horticulture and community, agriculture, recreation and resource studies from MSU.

MCARD holds monthly meetings that are open to the public. Among its responsibilities are developing the state’s Right to Farm Act Generally Accepted Agricultural and Management Practices (GAAMPs), regulation designed to protect the state’s farmers from nuisance lawsuits. The GAAMPs are reviewed yearly and, if deemed necessary, revised in consultation with industry stakeholders and members of the public.