Cherry farmer Mark Drake of Suttons Bay Township said he’s grateful that the Leelanau Conservancy created its “FarmAbility” program earlier this year – and is pleased that the Conservancy will be recognized for the farmland preservation program during the Leelanau Conservation District’s Annual Meeting Nov. 6.

Drake noted that the 65-acre orchard he enrolled in the program includes about 1,000 feet of Suttons Bay waterfront on Stony Point peninsula. The land is prime development property in addition to being ideal for fruit growing.
THE DRAKE orchard overlooking Suttons Bay is enrolled in the Leelanau Conservancy’s “FarmAbility” program.
“We have unique conditions for growing fruit here,” Drake said. “But this is also a beautiful place that attracts tourists and potential development. This land definitely needs to be protected from development – and the FarmAbility program will help us do that for at least the next 10 years.”

Accepting honors for the FarmAbility program at next week’s Leelanau Conservation District event will be Tom Nelson, director of farm programs for the Leelanau Conservancy. Nelson said that 30 farm families have stepped forward to protect more than 5,000 acres of their land through the program since FarmAbility was launched in March – achieving a goal the Conservancy had set for the first phase of the program.

The FarmAbility program was established following the failure of a millage proposal to support a county-sponsored farmland preservation program. In 2006, voters overwhelmingly turned town a plan that would use taxpayer dollars for the county to purchase development rights from willing sellers. Following that defeat, the Conservancy and other organizations and individuals interested in farmland preservation came up with a similar program – albeit one that was underwritten entirely by private donations.

The FarmAbility program makes annual cash payments of $10 per acre of active agricultural land and $5 per acre of woodlots, wetlands and other qualified properties in exchange for a promise that the land won’t be developed for at least 10 years. Other incentives include discounts on Michigan State University Extension and Leelanau Conservation District educational seminars, and $1,000 in matching funds for estate and tax planning focused on transferring the farm to the next generation for farming.

“In my own case, I’m hoping to convince the State of Michigan that since my land cannot be developed for the next 10 years, they shouldn’t tax me as if it were going to be developed, but at the lower, agricultural rate,” said Drake.

Although state law has yet to catch up with that concept, the benefits of the FarmAbility program are catching on locally.

“The program has provided a win-win situation for all involved,” said Buzz Long of the Leelanau Conservation District.

Long noted that the district provided technical assistance in setting up the program and provided what he called a “comfort zone for many of the farmers who have worked with the district for years.”
Another partner in the FarmAbility program is the Michigan State University Extension.

Extension director Rob Sirrine said that although the 2006 Farmland Preservation millage proposal “went down in flames,” the FarmAbility program has had widespread support “across the political spectrum.” As evidence, he pointed to how quickly the Conservancy reached its initial target of 5,000 acres.

Nelson said the Conservancy has raised about $250,000 of the $500,000 that will be needed to underwrite preservation of the first 5,000 acres enrolled in the program over the next 10 years. All of the money has come from private sources – several major foundations along with a number of anonymous individual and family donors.

“We hope to open up additional rounds of the FarmAbility program over the next three or four years – each with the goal of enrolling 5,000 acres, for a total 15,000 acres,” Nelson said. “These will all be 10 year agreements – unlike the permanent conservation easements that the Conservancy has been better known for.”

Whether farmland falls under the 10-year FarmAbility program or a permanent conservation easement, the arrangement needs to make good economic sense for farmers before they will sign up, Nelson noted. And, so far, preserving farmland has been making more and more sense to local farmers when the right incentives are in place, he said.