John Boyer repurchased 131 acres of his childhood farm in rural East Jordan, Michigan, and entered it into a conservation easement with the Little Traverse Conservancy, hoping to prevent future development from destroying family land, reports Vivian La for Grist. The future rights of his property will belong to the conservancy.
Between 2017 and 2022 farmland in Michigan, “where the majority of operations were family-owned, decreased nearly 470,000 acres … ” In that same timeframe, non-traditional farm ownership increased, with the state seeing an additional 22,000 acres of easement-protected land.
Easements allow farmers to own property, sell it to others down the line or transfer it generationally. The conservancy behind an easement acquires land and protects it, holding rights in case of future development. Farmers still own their land, but the conservancy protects it.
“An easement can be a hard decision for farmers because land is typically their greatest asset, something that can pay for retirement or a college fund,” said Joe Graham, chief financial and operating officer for the Little Traverse Conservancy. “We’re offering them another alternative. We’re offering a way to capture some of the equity and the value they have in that land without having to sell it and see it leave their ownership.”
Pressure to preserve farmland could be especially strong in Northern Michigan, La writes. “Farmers there are already confronting the effects of climate change, including more extreme precipitation, crop disease, and temperature swings, but some local farmers said those impacts are relatively easier to deal with than elsewhere in the country.”
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