Michigan Farmers Choose Between Easements, Leases, Solar — SkimNews
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- John Boyer repurchased his family's 131 acres near East Jordan in 2018 and later sold the development rights to the Little Traverse Conservancy via a conservation easement to prevent the land from being subdivided for houses or commercial builds.
- Michigan farmland declined roughly 3% between 2017 and 2022 to about 9.5 million acres, with family-owned operations losing nearly 470,000 acres while leased or rented farmland grew by nearly 30,000 acres, according to the USDA farm census.
- Michigan farmland values hit about $6,800 per acre in 2024, up 7.8% year-over-year and outpacing the national average of 4.3%, according to the USDA.
- Rebecca Carlson, a fourth-generation cherry and apple grower, expanded Overlook Orchards from about 200 to 1,300 acres over eight years, leaning on 30-year leases with aging family farmers who lack a younger successor.
- Michigan conservation easements added roughly 22,000 protected acres between 2017 and 2022, with the Little Traverse Conservancy now holding about 6,000 farmland acres across its 30,000-acre portfolio in five northern counties.
- Solar developers proposed nearly 1,500 acres of panels on Wexford County farmland earlier this year, drawing fierce local opposition even though solar accounts for just 0.09% of Michigan's USDA prime farmland.
- Leasing concerns dominate Michigan farmer anxiety, per a 2026 MSU Extension survey, with high lease rates and the difficulty of finding ground that matches a chosen crop topping the list.
Why it matters: With Michigan land values up 7.8% and family farms losing 470,000 acres in five years, the practical choice facing aging owners is no longer just preservation versus sale — it's whether to lock in a conservation easement at a discount, hand land to a consolidator like Carlson via 30-year lease, or chase solar dollars, all of which reshape who farms northern Michigan in the next generation.
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