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

In northern Michigan, farmers like John Boyer are grappling with what to do with land as ownership shifts, values rise, and younger generations opt out of farming. Michigan's farmland acreage dropped about 3 percent between 2017 and 2022, with family-owned operations losing nearly 470,000 acres even as leased farmland grew by about 30,000 acres, per USDA figures. State farmland values hit roughly $6,800 per acre last year, outpacing the national growth rate.

Some farmers, including Boyer, are turning to conservation easements, selling future development rights to nonprofits like the Little Traverse Conservancy while retaining ownership and the ability to farm or pass down the land. The conservancy has protected about 6,000 acres of farmland this way, though officials note easements pay less than an outright sale and pose hard tradeoffs for farmers relying on land as their retirement asset.

Other growers, like Rebecca Carlson of Overlook Orchards, are consolidating instead, expanding from 200 to 1,300 acres over eight years partly by leasing from aging farmers without successors. About 39 percent of Michigan's agricultural land is now leased, matching the national average, as climate pressures and generational change reshape who works the land and how.

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