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MI Farm Link connecting farmers and land

A new effort to link farmers who have land with those that want to farm is making connections in West Michigan.

Economic Development Coordinator for Ottawa Becky Huttenga tells Brownfield a USDA grant is backing the MI Farm Link Program which she hopes expands across the state.

“One of our goals is to start and incentivize getting that succession planning going,” she shares.

MI Farm Link is offering free consultations for succession planning and is hosting a conference in November to get farmers motivated about the transition process.

The program also is offering online land linking and a focus on mentoring.

“The folks that are going to want to use this to sell or lease their land will have to be those that have the agricultural industry long-term in mind, and are not just driven by the dollars,” she says.  “We want to grow this tool, get more listings, and make farmland more assessable to new, beginning farmers.”

Huttenga hopes the land linking function can find a home with a statewide organization to make it a more sustainable resource longer-term.