From International Trade to Climate Change: Industry Leaders Discuss Challenges and Opportunities Facing Michigan Agriculture as Fall Harvest Begins

<p>As we enter into the harvest season for some of Michigan's major crops, Kirk Heinze discusses the overall status of our state's agriculture with the current and past presidents of the Michigan Agri-Business Association (<a href="https://miagbiz.org">MABA</a>). Chuck Lippstreu took over the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/michagbiz/">MABA</a> helm from Jim Byrum in January. Byrum served as the MABA president for 25 years and keeps busy with the family business and several consulting engagements ranging from ag finance management to government affairs.<br> <br> “The Michigan Agri-Business Association has about 400 members, and the way to think about our membership is to think about all of those businesses that are along the agriculture value chain,” says Lippstreu. “We have a couple of producers who are members, but primarily our members are businesses that work with farmers around Michigan every day to help them get the job done. Our membership highlights all the different things that come together to help agriculture be successful, and all those different segments make up portions of our membership at <a href="https://twitter.com/michagbiz">MABA</a>.”<br> <br> Membership ranges from agricultural retailers who provide seed, fertilizer, and crop protection products to farmers to grain handlers, food processors and ag law and accounting firms.    <br> <br> Byrum notes three major developments in agriculture over the past two to three decades.   <br> <br> “First is certainly biotechnology,” Byrum says. “Biotechnology changed the way farmers grow and make cropping decisions. Biotechnology is not just Roundup-ready technology or herbicide tolerance, but it's also, for example, improving the genome of the corn plant and soybean plant itself, and that's been substantial. The kind of yield increases we've seen in corn and soybeans in the last quarter century has been absolutely astounding, and you see it every day when you're in farm country with bigger fields and bigger grain storage facilities. And at harv