Matching farmers to farmland! More Farm Links below.
MIFarmLink Publications:
Read about how the Americana Foundation helped lay the foundation for MIFarmLink. https://americanafoundation.org/news-april-11-2023/
MIFarmLink worked for Fran Adler. She protected her historic eighty-seven-acre farm in Manchester with a conservation easement in 2012 and wanted to lease part of it to a farmer who shared her commitment to sustainable practices. After conversing with the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, she’d decided to have the farm posted on MIFarmLink. From the site, Adler connected with a number of interested local farmers, but eventually chose Alex Gama.
“To me, the property was a rare gem, and I had to jump on it immediately,” says Gama. He’d moved to Washtenaw in 2023 to start a sheep farm but could only afford a relatively small parcel with a farmhouse for his young family. “The issue is that land is just so expensive,” Gama says, especially with the “huge up-front cost of buying the breeding stock for the sheep.” Adler’s rolling grassland was perfect for sheep. They’re starting with a one-year lease on fifty acres, and Gama hopes “to keep leasing the property long term and grow the business.” Adler, too, hopes it will blossom into a long relationship." [1]
In 2019, the farmland was protected in perpetuity under an Agricultural Conservation Easement. These are the kinds of connections that MIFarmLink fosters here in Washtenaw County and now statewide.
[1]: Provided excerpt from Trilby MacDonald, Ann Arbor Observer (https://annarborobserver.com/mifarmlink/)
Thomas, owner of Cedar Field Farm was looking for new leasers. A certified organic farm with 9 acres along with 6000 sq ft of hoop houses, it already had the set up for a burgeoning farm. Simon and Caitlin lived around the corner. Unbeknownst to them they were neighbors.
They both were on MIFarmLink and made the connection. Now Simon and Caitlin are farmers taking over the CSA and market production for Cedar Field Farm. Read more about them on their website. (https://www.cedarfieldfarm.com/about-us)
