Michigan’s potato growers can vote on whether to continue the Michigan Potato Industry Commission in a referendum conducted by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) beginning Jan. 31, 2022, and running through Feb. 11, 2022.
Ballots were mailed to potato growers Jan. 24, 2022.
Eligible growers with questions, or those not receiving a ballot, should contact MDARD toll-free at 800-292-3939 or by sending an email to Guardiolaj1@michigan.gov.
All ballots must be received in the MDARD Lansing office by Feb. 11.
The Michigan Potato Industry Commission fosters, develops and promotes the potato industry through research, promotion, advertising, market development or expansion, education, and the development and dissemination of market and industry information. Currently, the grower assessment is 4½ cents, not to exceed 5½ cents, per hundredweight and 1½ cents for the first handler (shipper).
By law, the program, established in 1970 and last amended in 2014, must be renewed every five years. For the program to be renewed, more than 50% of the votes cast by growers, representing more than 50% of the total hundredweight represented on the cast ballots, must approve it.
For this referendum, each grower is entitled to one vote representing a single firm, individual proprietorship, corporation, company, association, partnership, or husband-wife or family ownership.