September 5, 2023 – We hope everyone had a great Labor Day! The past few weeks have been packed with events for our team, as well as planning for future activities – including several upcoming Ag Club Breakfasts, the Outlook Conference and our November Leadership Group program. We’re also looking ahead to two important opportunities to serve our industry with continuing education: First, a two-day virtual RUP seminar on December 14-15, 2023, and second, the 2024 Winter Conference on January 9-10, 2024. Registration for these activities is not yet open, but will be soon. Amid all of this we are looking ahead to what promises to be a busy legislative session this fall. We expect energy legislation affecting renewable energy siting, and proposed restrictions on neonicotinoids to be on the agenda in the coming months, among many other topics. A reminder about social media! In addition to these updates, MABA continues to share updates on a wide range of topics via our social media accounts, especially Facebook and LinkedIn. You can follow us on: Facebook LinkedIn X/Twitter A brief August events update from MABA… In early August, MABA had a special opportunity to lead a visit to the NASS crop report “lockup” in Washington, and while there met with several MABA members and Congressional staff. Leaders representing Vita Plus Corporation, The Andersons, and John Marion Inc. attended the August crop report and WASDE release. Attendees had an opportunity to meet with NASS statisticians and speak with agency Administrator Hubert Hamer during the secure reporting process. While in Washington, MABA also met with staff for Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow on the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee; U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain; U.S. Sen. JD Vance; and MABA member companies. Thank you to NASS Great Lakes Regional Director Marlo Johnson for making the crop report briefing possible. On August 15, we headed to the AgroExpo in St. Johns, MI. We were glad to help kick things off again this year with breakfast, courtesy of cohosts Clinton County Catalyst, Consumers Energy, AgroLiquid and the AgroExpo. We appreciated the many agribusiness, farm and commodity organization leaders, and members of the Clinton County community who joined us for breakfast. MABA helped kick off the 2023 AgroExpo alongside Consumers Energy, Clinton County Catalyst and AgroLiquid. Mid-month, we had an opportunity to moderate an agricultural roundtable in West Michigan with U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin, a member of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. Farming and agribusiness leaders from across the region met with Rep. Slotkin and MDARD Director Tim Boring in Grand Rapids. Slotkin discussed the next Farm Bill and her recently-introduced legislation to boost specialty crops. MABA also voiced our industry’s support for Congresswoman Slotkin’s bipartisan legislation to add phosphate and potash to the Department of Interior’s Critical Minerals List. Our team was on the road in August meeting with members and allied interests. At the end of August, Kara and Chuck from the MABA team visited the BASF Center for Sustainable Agriculture and some of the company’s research facilities in Raleigh, NC. We were in North Carolina for cross-industry meetings with MABA members in the crop protection and ag retail segments, and allied trade associations. You can learn more about the BASF Sustainable Ag Center here. We also met with MABA members and delivered government relations updates at two key industry meetings, the Advance Trading, Inc. Outlook Conference in Toledo and the Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE) Annual Meeting in Louisville. MABA President Chuck Lippstreu participated on a state government relations panel hosted by Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE), alongside experts from Minnesota and Colorado, earlier this month at the RISE Annual Meeting. This month saw a successful new fundraising effort for the MABA Educational Trust, with MABA members and partners headed to the Pine Portage Lodge near Wawa, ON for four days of fishing. In addition to catching plenty of fish, attendees helped raise additional funds for the Educational Trust, which most recently delivered scholarships to more than 20 young people pursuing agricultural studies! Thank you to Ed Trustees Phil Needler and Ward Forquer for leading this new effort! We continue to raise money for scholarships this week with the Memorial Golf Outing in Ithaca. 14 participants supported the MABA Educational Trust at this year’s first-ever fundraising trip to Pine Portage Lodge in Wawa, ON. Upcoming Events Go here for the latest MABA events update. We encourage you to mark your calendar for fall and winter events coming up! Thank you to our 2023 Sustaining Sponsors! The August-January period is our busiest time at the Association, and we anticipate that a highly active fall for the Legislature will add to the excitement! This makes us that much more appreciative of all those who step up as members, and sponsors of MABA. We want to take a moment to say “thank you” to the sponsors that continue to step up for MABA. We are in a time of rapid industry change and – here in Michigan – changes to state government not seen in more than four decades. Our team is proud to be a strong advocate and trusted resource for all of MABA’s members. The support of these sponsors is critical to advance MABA and represents their strong commitment to the Michigan industry. Thank you again to all 2023 sponsors!
