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Michigan Wheat Program Board of Directors 2021-2022
Front Row: Lyn Uphaus, Jeffery Krohn, Brent Wagner, Tony Bohac
Back row: Sally McConnachie, Jim Doyle, Brad Kamprath, Jason Dunning
Not pictured: Carl Wagner III and David Milligan, ex-officio
The Michigan Wheat Program was created to fund research projects, develop educational programs, explore and maintain markets and meet the needs of Michigan’s nearly 8,000 wheat farmers. After farmers voted to create the Michigan Wheat Program in mid-2011, the initial board was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder in November 2011. The board held its first meeting the following month and for the first five years met nearly every month.
The MWP’s nine-member board of directors is comprised of eight farmers, who serve in one of eight districts across Michigan. Districts were developed based on production. The board’s ninth director represents the milling industry, and is also appointed by the Governor.
Each year three board members are up for appointment or reappointment by the Governor. The original board members have all hit the maximum they could serve and have been replaced by other growers in their district. The board remains committed to focusing on the needs of Michigan’s wheat farmers and keeping the momentum to get them accomplished.
Biographies of MWP’s distinguished board members and their terms of appointment may be found on the Board Biographies tab by clicking here.
Farmers interested in serving on the board, should contact Jody Pollok-Newsom prior to March in the year the seat in their district expires. Petition signatures are required. Each district must have two nominees for the board, who are then considered and one is appointed by the Governor, and confirmed by the Michigan Senate.
The Michigan Wheat Program is a state-check off program voted in by the state’s wheat farmers to assess each bushel of wheat grown and sold. The funds from the program are utilized to further the wheat industry in the state benefitting the state’s nearly 8,000 wheat farmers who grow about 450,000 acres of wheat annually producing about a 40 million bushel crop.