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Tomorrow the House Agriculture Committee (at 2:00 pm or after House session, in Room 426 of the Anderson House Office Building) will be taking up a package of bills intended to establish in statute the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP), and to provide incentives for producers to become MAEAP certified as a means of facilitating land and water resource stewardship. This package, House Bills 5711 5716, have attracted interest because they include CAFOs or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and the issue of agricultural storm water discharges, as well as provisions regarding nuisance or anonymous complaints to the department. For a link to the most up-to-date legislative analysis of the package, go to: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2005-2006/billanalysis/House/htm /2005-HLA-5711-1.htm The diverse interest groups involved were at one time thought to have arrived at some agreement on parts of the package. At this point we dont know if amendments or substitute bills reflecting these or other discussions will be offered tomorrow. Stay Tuned! Vicki Morrone Organic Vegetable and Crop Outreach Specialist Michigan State University C.S. Mott Sustainable Food Systems 303 Natural Resources Bldg. East Lansing, MI 48824 517-353-3542 517-282-3557 (cell) 517-353-3834 (fax) If you would like to access previous postings to the Mich-Organic listserv you can copy and paste the following URL into your browser address bar http://list.msu.edu/archives/mich-organic.html