Lansing, Mich.-Michigan’s state budget crisis, which was temporarily averted by last-minute tax increases by the legislature earlier this month, could still result in deep cuts in the agriculture department, according to agribusiness interests. Lawmakers acted to head off a complete shutdown of government offices by adopting, among other measures, an extension of the state sales tax which, according to Michigan Agri-Business Assn. President Jim Byrum, won’t affect fertilizer or other farm inputs. Reported Byrum, “There was no talk of extending the sales tax to agriculture inputs at all. In fact, such an idea hasn’t surfaced around here in a long time.” But he wasn’t as confident about cutbacks in the state agriculture staff. “The challenge is that even with new taxes the budget is still $440 million short, and the legislature only passed a 30-day continuing budget to keep the state running while they figure out where to find the additional money. And that process is just getting started. We don’t know where and how much additional cutting we will see in the MDA.” Byrum had advised members earlier that policymakers were “sparring over dueling proposals” that would eliminate up to 25 workers in the agriculture department. At one point when the shutdown appeared to be imminent, association members were advised to “take steps to deal with gridlock if government services go down. Food will not be inspected, gas pumps will not be checked, fertilizer and pesticide facilities will not be inspected, there will be no enforcement of weights and measures, and no one is going to answer the phones.”
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain