State Rep. Jerry Neyer will serve as chair of the agriculture committee in the Michigan House of Representatives during the 2025-2026 term.

He was appointed to the position on Thursday by Speaker of the House Matt Hall.

Neyer, R-Shepherd, previously served as minority vice chair last term when Democrats had majority, but Republicans now have a 58 to 52 seat advantage after flipping control of the chamber in the November election. That means Republicans decide what bills get worked on in committee.

“I’m very happy with the assignment,” Neyer said. “I’m looking forward to working with the agriculture community to make the industry more viable and prosperous for our state.”

Neyer is a dairy farmer who served more than 20 years on the Isabella County Farm Bureau and the United Dairy Industry of Michigan Board. He’s a lifelong farmer; his family owns and operates Neyer Farms, which was started by his father in the 1960s. Neyer’s brother and nephew have been running it since Neyer got elected in 2022 to serve in Lansing, but Neyer is still actively involved.

Neyer said that one of the first things he plans on doing as committee chair is to meet with producer groups to see if they can agree on some common issues that need action.

“I want to start meeting with ag industry people to get their shortlist of things they want to get done, problems they are facing, things we can help them with. I’d like to get a shortlist of changes we can make that will have an immediate effect to help the ag industry grow,” Neyer said.

In terms of the near future, Neyer said he plans to take quick action on legislation that would reduce fines levied against family farms that fail to report a workplace death of an immediate family member within the currently required eight-hour window. The issue stems from a 2019 incident in which the owner of a family farm fell through a roof while making repairs on a private barn, which was not even part of the farm operations, and he died from his injuries. The grieving family did not report his death to the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration within eight hours as required, resulting in a $12,000 fine.

“No one in that kind of situation is going to be thinking about filing paperwork with the state in the first eight hours. They’re going to be in shock. Anyone applying common sense can see that,” Neyer said when he introduced legislation to fix that issue last year. 

That legislation has already passed the House twice but was never signed into law. The first time, the bill passed both the House and Senate in the 2021-2022 term but got vetoed by Gov. Whitmer, allegedly due to a technical concern. Then after Neyer took office he worked on the legislation and fixed the technical concerns. The bill again passed the House in 2024 by a vote of 93 in favor to 13 against, but it never got in a vote in the Senate.

Neyer said he also wants to update regulations to make it easier for cottage farms to sell products online.

“We need to get regulations to a reasonable level where farms can operate without them getting in the way,” Neyer said.

Another issue Neyer wants to work on is making it easier to get permits for multi-owner methane digesters, which are too expensive for small operations to individually own.

Neyer to serve on three more committees

In addition to serving as chair of the agriculture committee, Neyer will serve on three more committees: insurance, regulatory reform, and the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. Of those, the transportation committee is a new assignment; Neyer worked on the other two last term.

“I expect the regulatory reform and transportation committees to be very active this term, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to serve on them,” Neyer said. “Insurance is going to be a challenging committee to work through – we’ve got several issues to work through such as no-fault, and dealing with the increasing cost of insurance.”

Neyer represents Michigan House District 92, which covers all of Isabella County and part of Gratiot County, including the towns of St. Louis, Alma, and Ithaca plus Seville Township, Pine River Township, Bethany Township, Arcada Township, and Emerson Township.