By MONA SHAND
Michigan News Connection

CADILLAC — Much more than farms and farmers is included in the federal farm bill. 
The massive legislation, which totaled nearly $290 billion in 2008, is more formally known as the Food, Conservation and Energy Act, and includes programs for rural development.
Those funds, according to a new report from the Center for Rural Affairs, have a significant effect in Michigan, especially its northern reaches and on the Upper Peninsula.
With the so-called “super committee” charged with making deep federal cuts, John Crabtree, the center’s communications director, fears the programs are in grave danger of being eliminated.
“Even in today’s climate of deficit reduction and budget cutting, jobs should be the top priority in Washington, and rural development programs that create jobs should be a priority in the federal farm bill that’s being written right now.”
From 2007 to 2009, the report found, rural development assistance brought more than $733 million in loans, grants and direct payments to the people of northern Michigan, compared with $64 million in federal farm-program payments.
Crabtree said rural-development programs, which include small-business development, community-facility initiatives and water and sewer programs have traditionally been an afterthought in the bigger picture of the farm bill.
He said he hopes this report will show just how valuable they are to communities.
“When we look at cutting things, when you look at dramatically cutting — or cutting those rural development programs to the bone — in northern Michigan that means losing out on a lot more help than cutting farm programs.”
The current farm bill was passed in 2008 and is set to expire in 2012.