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Farmers Find New Allies and Solutions
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In a response published by the newspaper, Jack
Laurie, president of the Michigan Farm Bureau, said
Mr. Litman's critique was deeply flawed. New housing
developments generally cost communities more -- to
provide services like schools, utilities, and fire and
police protection -- than they pay in property taxes,
Mr. Laurie said. He added that assuring adequate food
supplies for a growing population depends on having
enough land to grow crops.
The debate over rural land protection is a volatile
mix of policy, economics, and culture. And no group is
more in conflict than the farmers themselves.
For example, the 160,000-member Michigan Farm
Bureau has endorsed a "property rights" policy that
calls for farmers to be able to use their land as they see
fit, without interference from state or local governments.
On the other hand, many farmers recognize the
need for new public policies to help end the peril to
their way of life and Michigan's valuable farm economy from current land-consuming trends. During its
annual meeting in Traverse City last December, the
Michigan Farm Bureau adopted a resolution calling for
better planning to preserve farmland, and for taking
"aggressive leadership" in communicating the need to
strengthen state land use policy.
"I can't tell you how hard this issue is for us," said
Scott Everett, associate legislative counsel for the
Michigan Farm Bureau. "Some farmers are ready to
cash in for retirement. The young farmers want to keep
farming. Meanwhile the land is being fragmented by
low-density housing. We've got to fix it."
Last September, Public Sector Consultants, a
Lansing-based policy research firm, found new evidence
that voters are ready to do just that. About 800 residents
statewide, representing a cross section of income and
education levels, were asked in a survey about their
attitudes toward sprawl. Seventy percent said it was
"very important to preserve and maintain agricultural
lands." Just 20% believed current land use laws are
adequate to prevent sprawl and protect farmland.
Bill Rustem, the firm's vice president and former
environmental policy advisor to Gov. William G.
Milliken, said the results indicate "there is a tremendous
need for the development of an overall vision of what we
want our state to look like in the future."
The place to build such a consensus is at the local
level, and communities are stepping forward to become
the principal incubators of ideas to protect farmland.
No area has acted more resolutely than northwest
Michigan:
• Grand Traverse County's Peninsula Township,
with one of the world's best micro-climates for growing
cherries, voted in 1994 to increase property taxes to
purchase 9,700 acres of farmland development rights.
The township already is halfway toward its goal, with
nearly 5,000 acres preserved.
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