The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) has created a new task force to take a closer look at workforce housing needs around the state.

The new Food and Agriculture Housing Task Force will be led by MDARD and includes other departments and agencies that deal with economic development, housing and rural development.

The new task force comes as the state says we are seeing an increased demand for hired workers in food and agriculture communities and “housing has become a major issue.”

According to the state’s news release there’s been an increase in hired workers