Governor Rick Snyder says agriculture is a key part of his strategy to focus economic development efforts on small businesses.
The governor spoke today to the Future Farmers of America state convention. He says there’s lots of room to grow small businesses processing farm products in rural areas of the state.
"There’s an opportunity there to do more economic development in our smaller towns and our villages, and one of those connections is if you look at it, we’re producing all these great commodity products, and if we can do more and more to say let’s continue the processing of these products right where they are being produced, that’s an opportunity to create jobs in these smaller communities. "
At the same time, Snyder says he wants to rely less on tax breaks and other industry-specific incentives to create jobs.