In April, MDARD announced farmland preservation grant awards for seven counties designed to protect agricultural lands from being developed.
Van Buren County received $312,600. The county’s Community Services Director Lisa Ransler said the Van Buren County Land Preservation Board applied for the grant to preserve a 219-acre farm owned by 6th- generation farmer Carl Druskovich.
Ransler said the board will use the money to purchase the land's development rights from Druskovich.
“He’ll never be able to develop it, so we’re just giving him a little bit in exchange for that permanent easement for agriculture," Ransler said.
The deal works by using the grant money to compensate Druskovich in exchange for giving up his development rights. He will then own the land indefinitely without development rights, which means the land can only be used for farming.
“He will have his 219 acres permanently reserved for agriculture. Only agriculture will happen on these [acres] moving forward," Ransler said.
Because the county will own the development rights but not the land, that means no development can happen on the land unless the Druskovich family were to eventually sell the 219 acres to the Land Preservation Board.
Ransler says the idea is to ensure the land continues to be used for agriculture into the future.
“It helps today’s farmers and future generations as we lose agriculture — because it’s very important to Van Buren County," Ransler said.
She said agriculture is one of Van Buren County's most important industries, but in recent years the county has lost a significant chunk of its farmland.
According to Bridge Michigan, Van Buren lost close to 44,000 acres of farmland between 2012 and 2022. Ransler said the preservation of Druskovich's farm is one step toward preserving more of the county's agricultural lands.
"Carl is a 6th-generation farmer and he's already got the next generation working with him to preserve the land. So they will be producing their corn and strawberries and gladiolas for many years into the future," Ransler said.
