AgroLiquid, headquartered in St. Johns, Mich., recently announced it will construct a 48,355-square-foot production facility in Lake City, Fla.

The company says the new facility, situated on nearly 20 acres within the North Florida Mega Industrial Park, will help provide liquid fertilizer closer to customers in the U.S. Southeast through faster and more efficient services.

Construction is underway, and the facility is expected to be fully operational by early next year.

For information about AgroLiquid's other locations and products, visit agroliquid.com.

Carrot farmers to vote on program

Between April 1 to 12, Michigan’s carrot producers can vote on continuing the Carrot Industry Development Program in a referendum conducted by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Ballots will be mailed by MDARD to carrot producers on March 25. Producers are eligible to vote if they produced and sold carrots for human consumption, valued at more than $800, in any one of the last three years. 

The carrot program was designed to improve the economic position of the state’s carrot producers by supporting and creating greater marketing opportunities through crop and market information, advertising and promotion, and appropriate research. By law, it must be resubmitted for grower approval every five years. Currently, the assessment is 20 cents per master of fresh carrots and 45 cents per ton of processing carrots.

For the program to be renewed, more than 50% of the producer votes cast, representing more than 50% of the total unit of measure represented on the cast ballots, must approve it.

For the purpose of this referendum, each producer gets one vote representing a single firm, individual proprietorship, corporation, company, association, partnership, or a husband-wife or family ownership. All ballots should be sent to MDARD, Executive Office, P.O. Box 30017, Lansing, MI 48909.

Eligible producers with questions, or those not receiving a ballot, should contact MDARD at 800-292-3939.

Stabenow calls for coalition to pass farm bill

U.S. Senate Ag Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow of Michigan said the only way to pass a farm bill this year is to assemble a farm and food coalition of rural and urban lawmakers, as reported by the Michigan Agri-Business Association.

“We need to be strengthening all parts of the farm bill,” rather than trying to raid SNAP and climate funds to pay for larger crop subsidy outlays, she said. “I believe we will get a farm bill by focusing on coalitions.”

Negotiations on the farm bill, nearly six months overdue, have been at an impasse over farm supports, climate funding and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas, the senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, pointed to other instances in which major legislation emerged from months of stalemate. “All of a sudden, these things come together. I hope [the farm bill] is one of those,” he said.

Annalyse Auxter chosen as MFB’s Educator of Year

Ida Elementary School teacher Annalyse Auxter is Michigan Farm Bureau’s 2024 Educator of the Year.

The announcement was made during National Agriculture Week, March 17-24. The award will be presented at MFB’s 105th annual meeting in December.

Alongside the title of Educator of the Year, Auxter earned a grant to attend the National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference, as well as a $500 classroom grant from the Michigan Foundation for Agriculture, sponsored by AgroLiquid.

Auxter’s teaching practices include integrating environmental and ag learning with state academic standards. When her students are not outside studying cloud patterns, releasing their hatched monarch butterflies or touring local farms, they continue learning through agriculture.