LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) has announced that $2 million has been awarded to farmland preservation programs in seven counties in the state.

The awards will be given to programs in Ottawa, Kent, Macomb, Eaton, Barry, Berrien and Washtenaw counties. The funds will help local farmers with up to 75 percent of the costs related to development rights on agricultural land, in addition to helping pay some closing costs associated with conservation easements. Twenty-four local programs were eligible to submit funding grant applications.

“Michigan is home to nearly 10 million acres of farmland and that land is the foundation of our food production and supply,” MDARD Director Gary McDowell said in a statement. “We must continue to ensure the long-term sustainability of those acres. These grants allow for us to invest in Michigan’s growing agricultural industry while protecting farmland for future generations. These funds set up the next generation of farmers for success.”

The local preservation programs send in their top-ranking farms for permanent protection through a conservation easement, said Elizabeth Brost, conservation easement coordinator at MDARD’s Farmland Preservation Program office. The Agricultural Preservation Fund provides up to 75 percent of the purchase price of the development rights to close on the conservation easement. “They are grants for specific farms to close on their conservation easement,” Brost explained. “The Local Grants Program also provides guidance to the local programs on the closing process, for those new programs that are going through their first few conservation easement closings.”

The following local farmland preservation programs received grants preserving 1,144 acres: Ottawa County, $168,750; Webster Township in Washtenaw County, $375,000; Kent County, $220,000; Macomb County, $342,000; Eaton County, $88,530; Barry County, $657,750; and Berrien County, $147,970.

To qualify, a county or township must have zoning authority, covered under a master plan that includes farmland preservation, passed a Purchase of Development Rights Ordinance and created a plan for monitoring conservation easements. Local programs are selected based on the scoring system adopted by the Agricultural Preservation Fund Board (APFB), that focuses on quality agricultural parcels and program achievements.

The APFB awards grants to local agricultural conservation easement programs. The board consists of seven members, including the MDARD director and the director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The board was created in 2000 for this purpose.

Although the program allowing the creation of permanent agricultural conservation easements has been in place since at least 2005, it was not well funded for about 10 years, Brost explained. In 2016, a bill was passed that used a calculation each year from the preservation program tax credits that added stable funding for the Agricultural Preservation Fund. This allows an annual grant cycle of $2 million for local farmland preservation programs.

To learn more about the board and fund, visit www.michigan.gov/farmland.