June 4, 2024 - The City of Ann Arbor Greenbelt has completed the final step of selling its first-ever conserved property under the program's new buy-protect-sell initiative. This is a new city effort to create equitable and affordable conserved farmland-purchasing opportunities surrounding Ann Arbor. The city purchased a 54-acre farm in November 2022 in Northfield Township with the intent to split and sell it in two parts via a public request for proposals, but at a fixed, reduced price to reflect the conservation easement that would be applied. To be eligible, applicants could not already own land, or they had to be a small farmer, and had to meet an income limit. *Money received from buyers via the buy-protect-sell program is returned to the Greenbelt fund for more land conservation.
Through a scoring system developed for the initiative, the Greenbelt Advisory Commission selected Kristen Muehlhauser, owner of Raindance Organic Farm, as the buyer of the south side of the farm and Matt Demmon, owner of Feral Flora, as the buyer of the north side.
Muehlhauser has managed Raindance Organic Farm since 2018 on leased land in Northfield Township, selling her produce and cut flowers through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and the Ann Arbor Farmers Market. She will be transitioning her operations to her buy-protect-sell parcel over the next year.
“I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to steward this land for a lifetime," says Muehlhauser, “After growing food and flowers on leased farmland for six years, we now have a farm to call home. That long-term commitment means we are able to invest our time, labor and funds in building healthy soil, in water lines, in pollinator plantings, in fruiting trees and perennial shrubs, in four-season structures for year-round harvests."
Matt Demmon has also managed his native plant growing and ecological landscape business, Feral Flora, on leased land since 2018. As the new owner of the north buy-protect-sell parcel, Demmon will grow native perennials and prairie species inground for seed production. Within four years, he plans to produce 500 pounds of native seeds annually, enough seed to sow 50 acres of prairie plantings every year.
“In our current landscape installation practice," writes Demmon, “we are constantly seeking to reduce negative impacts on the environment by reduction of mown areas, omitting regular applications of fertilizer and chemicals, shaping the land to slow and infiltrate water runoff, and increasing the diversity of plant resources and other habitat needs of all life including insects, birds, mammals, etc. I intend to put these practices to work on the Nollar Road property. I care deeply about the health of the land and all life that might utilize it, far into the future."
Both farms will use a transitionary hay period as the new owners work to implement their farm plans.
The City of Ann Arbor Greenbelt created the buy-protect-sell (BPS) initiative to continue fulfilling its primary goal of land conservation while achieving additional social benefits. The goal includes helping to address the challenges faced by the future of farming seen in Washtenaw County and across the United States:
Finding and securing land to farm is the biggest challenge that beginning farmers face in starting a career in agriculture.
Farmland prices are at a record high across the country, and land has become increasingly unaffordable for farmers.
The land surrounding our nation's cities, where market opportunities are greatest for beginning farmers, is often the most difficult to access.
These innovative BPS transactions help directly facilitate affordable farmland access opportunities in communities. The city is the first land preservation program in Michigan to wield BPS for this purpose. The Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission assisted financially with the cost of the property's conservation easement.
In 2003, residents of Ann Arbor approved the Greenbelt Millage, which authorized a 30-year, 0.5 mil tax levy to provide funds for the preservation and protection of open space, natural habitats, agricultural lands. To date, the Greenbelt program has successfully helped to preserve 7,600+ acres of land. A majority of that has been achieved by acquiring conservation easements on private land that permanently restrict the property's use, safeguarding its use for agricultural, recreational or conservation purposes.
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