FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 29, 2016 Media contact: Jessy Sielski, 517-284-5725

LANSING – The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources are pleased to announce that Dale Rozeboom, PhD, and Steve Safferman, PhD, have been selected to serve as chairs of two MDARD committees that help protect farms by minimizing their environmental nuisance impact.

Rozeboom, an MSU Extension specialist and professor of swine nutrition and production management at MSU, will chair the committee for Site Selection and Odor Control for New and Expanding Livestock Facilities. Safferman, an MSU Extension specialist and an associate professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering at MSU, will chair the committee for Manure Management and Utilization. The committees are responsible for the creation and revision of Generally Accepted Agricultural Management Practices—better known simply as GAAMPs—which are a function of Michigan’s Right to Farm law. 

Rozeboom previously served as chair of the Manure Management and Utilization committee from 2012 to 2016. Safferman has served on the MMU committee since 2008. Their new appointments are effective immediately. 

“Dale and Steve have been exceptional stewards of Michigan’s environment through their participation and leadership in the GAAMPs process,” said MDARD Director Jamie Clover Adams. “I am certain that they will assume their new responsibilities with the same commitment, expertise, and professionalism they have demonstrated throughout their careers.”

The authority for GAAMPs is provided under the Michigan Right to Farm Act, which was enacted in 1981. The Act provides affirmative protection to farm operations that are in conformance to the standards outlined in the GAAMPs. Each GAAMP committee is made up of approximately 15 experts in the areas of the GAAMP’s responsibility. The Act was amended in 1987, 1995 and 1999, and the GAAMPs now address manure management and utilization; pesticide utilization and pest control; nutrient utilization; care of farm animals; cranberry production; site selection and odor control; irrigation water use; and farm markets. By law, each set of GAAMPs are reviewed yearly by each committee and presented for approval to the Michigan Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development.   

For more information about Right to Farm or the GAAMPs, visit www.michigan.gov/righttofarm. 

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