Mich. Comp. Laws § 285.51
In order to promote the agricultural interests of the various counties of this state and to provide for agricultural extension work, each county of the state through its board of supervisors is hereby authorized and empowered to cooperate to said end with the Michigan agricultural college and with any department or bureau of the United States government; and may enter into agreements with reference thereto. The board of supervisors in any county may appropriate money, or raise money by taxation, for the purpose hereof, and may establish a farm bureau to act as the representative of the board and of the county in all such cooperative work. Subject to the approval of the state board of agriculture or of the proper representatives thereof, the board may appoint a county agricultural agent and necessary assistants, whose duty it shall be to aid in carrying out the purpose of this act. The compensation and expenses of any person so employed, or such portion thereof as shall under the terms of any agreement between the county and the Michigan agricultural college or any department or bureau of the federal government, be payable by the county, shall be fixed and provided for by the board.
MCL 285.51