Amanda Forrester / news@whmi.com

The Director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development spoke before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Wednesday morning.

Tim Boring was a member of a panel called “Perspectives From the Field: Farmer and Rancher Views on the Agricultural Economy, Part 2.” He focused on the importance, challenges and opportunities growers and consumers of specialty crops face.

Specialty crops are defined as “fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits and horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture,” according to the USDA.

Agriculture is a $105 billion industry for the state, and Boring said the specialty crop farmers are the “backbone” of that success.

“While Michigan is largely considered ‘THE’ specialty crop state with more than 300 crops produced, specialty crops are grown and consumed in all 50 states,” he said. “Specialty crop producers feed the country and much of the world with nutritious fruit, vegetables, legumes and more while supplying our homes and businesses with cut flowers and potted plants. Our holidays include celebrations that see families partake in food and drink flavored with herbs and spices, snacking on an array of tree nuts or maybe putting up Christmas Trees in December. Our yards and gardens are often landscaped with a fir, spruce or hemlock. The point is that specialty crops truly are special and integrated into what we eat, how we decorate and when we share moments with friends and families.”

Boring said that due to the large number of crops that fall under the specialty category, people tend to assume they will always be available, but that isn’t the case. He said times for specialty crops have never been “more tenuous.” Some of the issues facing farmers are trade pressures, market access challenges, rising input costs, climate variability, labor constraints and threats of pests and disease. There are many multi-generation farms that are being forced to decide whether their farm will continue.

Some experts hope that the farm bill being drafted by the Committee will continue to open new market opportunities as well as fund programs that foster trade and research as they have in the past.

“Public sector research is critical for specialty crops,” Boring said. “In Michigan, Specialty Crop Block Grants annual investments of approximately $2 million in recent years support activities such as new leaf disease and seedling root rot research in celery; determining action thresholds and management strategies for root lesion nematodes in carrot production; methods to combat onion Stemphylium leaf blight; and advancing etiology, detection and management of blueberry viruses, to name a few.”

Block Grant funding has also made it possible for land grant colleges, such as Michigan State University, to continue research, along with allowing Michigan crop companies and associations to participate in national and international trade shows.

MDARD has received growing concerns from Michigan farmers about “increasingly erratic growing conditions.” Cherry farmers lost between 30% and 75% of their crop, depending on the location and variety, due to abnormal weather events that increased insect and disease pressure, Boring said as just one example of the unprecedented conditions farmers across the state are dealing with.

“At MDARD we’re focused on several overarching priorities: climate resiliency and regenerative agriculture; diversity in agriculture production; and economic prosperity across Michigan,” he said. “Specialty crops are key to the realization of these priorities, not just in Michigan, but in many places across the country. Toward this end in Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer has leveraged federal funding supporting specialty crops, investing state dollars in two new flagship programs: MDARD’S Regenerative Agriculture Unit and the new Farm-to-Family program.”

Regenerative agriculture is an approach to land management that focuses on improving soil health. Michigan’s is the first in the nation to be part of the state department.

The Farm-to-Family program is working to strengthen the agri-food systems across the state, increasing the availability locally grown produce to consumers around the state.