The 102nd Michigan Farm Bureau State Annual Meeting is in the books. Scott Piggott, CEO of Michigan Farm Bureau, says the event’s goal can be summed up in one word.
“Resolution—it’s an opportunity to be focused as an organization, an understanding of direction from our delegates, members, farmers, to our board of directors and staff,” he says. “These are the things we want to work on and accomplish. They’ll do the work. Our members always do the work.”
And that’s what the two-day meeting was in Grand Rapids: work. While the delegates have squared away the policy for the upcoming year, Piggott says that work will continue through outreach, legislative breakfasts, and on-farm visits.
“The best thing we love to do is bring people out to the farms,” he says. “If there’s a way we can get folks out on farms and show them what we’re dealing with firsthand, that’s what’s going to make that indelible memory that eventually, hopefully, will move something the way we need to.”
The ag workforce has experienced labor shortages for years. Piggott says no matter what type of farm he visits, that issue always rises to the top.
“Labor, the forefront of people’s minds both at the congressional scale as well as on their farms, whether it’s the labor disruption that’s causing difficulties in supply chains, [or] the opportunity to bring workers to farms,” he says.
