As family farms decline and the climate heats up, farmers weigh what to do with their land

The useful part

As family farms decline and the climate heats up, farmers weigh what to do with their land. The farm had changed ownership outside the family several times over the decades before Boyer rebought it in 2018. The number of acres devoted to farming in Michigan has declined in recent decades, as it has in the rest of the country.

How it works

• Aging farmers might split up land among multiple kids, leaving a patchwork of ownership that "breaks up multigenerational farms," Carlson said, especially as younger people in the area choose not to go into...
• Farmland in Michigan where the majority of operations were family-owned decreased nearly 470,000 acres in those same five years.
• Conversely, land leased or rented for farming operations increased by nearly 30,000 acres.
• Despite shifts in farm ownership and acreage dedicated to agriculture, the number of farmland acres in Michigan protected by conservation programs has increased in recent years, reflecting a national trend.
• The state saw an additional 22,000 acres protected in easements between 2017 and 2022, according to the U.S.

What to take from it

In Michigan, about 39 percent of agricultural land is leased, according to the 2022 USDA census, a number that mirrors the national average. Those fees can be significantly cheaper than owning farmland outright, because Carlson isn't responsible for property taxes or other costs like insurance for infrastructure. 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.

Example or evidence

• Farmers either have a "crop in mind but no ground, or they had the ground, but in some cases they weren't sure what they could raise on it," LaPorte with MSU Extension said.
• There's a lot of money," said Jon LaPorte, a farm business management educator for Michigan State University Extension.
• The pressure to preserve farmland could be especially strong in northern Michigan.
• "As the world climate changes, this area could become more and more important for food production and food security," said Dave Skornia, a farmer in Boyne City, Michigan.

Details worth keeping

"For any farmer, everything's personal," Boyer told Grist. 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. "So, you got to have land." Vivian La // Grist For Boyer, above, the best way to protect his farmland was to restrict future development on it by entering into what's called a conservation easement.

Related coverage

• Grist: In Michigan and around the country, farmers are facing decisions about how to best keep land in production as values rise, climate change threatens operations, and a younger generation chooses not to farm.
• Goodmenproject: In Michigan and around the country, farmers are facing decisions about how to best keep land in production as values rise, climate change threatens operations, and a younger generation chooses not to farm.
• Pbs: For generations, the family farm has been central to the American story.