Community High School

‘Till the Cows Come Home

??!http://farm1.static.flickr.com/206/481475648_f9fed7e1db.jpg! Developers are purchasing rural areas that farmers cannot afford to keep.??

A tiny brown and white calf poked her nose through the netting of her enclosure to reach a tuft of grass. Another, upon noticing the presence of an outsider, dashed into her kennel, or “caftel” as they are called, and peered out shyly. The calves live individually in these corrals to prevent illness when they are young, but they will soon move in together and in a few years become milking cows on Bruce Breuniger’s farm.

Breuniger’s dairy farm is unique in that it is one of the last working dairy farms in the Dexter area, as development encroaches more and more on farmland around Ann Arbor. Since 1909, when his German grandfather settled the land, Breuniger’s family has watched the area grow and change over the century. The change in the past few decades has been most remarkable, however, as the townships around Ann Arbor have been growing rapidly.

“It was very rural back then…” Breuniger said of when he was growing up, “There’s a lot more people around. In my graduating class of 1980 at Dexter High there was 130 [students], and in my daughter’s class there’s 296.”

!http://farm1.static.flickr.com/189/481475642_e4fb5dcfbd.jpg!

In the Washtenaw Land Trust’s edition of a Washtenaw county land use profile, it is recorded that active agricultural land decreased by 14% between 1990 and 2000, while commercial land use went up by 17% and residential land usage by 59%. As one of the fastest growing counties in the state, it is expected that woodland, wetland, and shrub areas will continue to disappear through 2020.

Breuniger is not as concerned about the change in landscape as some, but it still bothers him, for instance, that there is an enormous, brand-new house staring at his farm from the hill across the street.

“I don’t like it,” He said, “but I’m trying to go with the flow as much as I can. I don’t really have too much choice. I guess if something devastating was to happen [concerning his land] I’d probably be pretty angry.”

He has lost some of the land that his family farmed on Ann-Arbor Dexter Road, where the Country Market strip mall currently resides. This was land he had been renting (most farmers rent a percentage of the land they farm: Bruce owns 270 of the 870 acres that he farms) and the owners decided to sell it to developers some five years ago.

The development of the area around Dexter Village has been relatively gradual, whereas Pittsfield Township, to the south of Ann Arbor, has practically exploded with housing and commercial building in the past 15 years. Kris Ann Berger, Community High’s Spanish and French teacher, moved into a new home in a housing development nine years ago in Pittsfield, where a farm had stood weeks before.

“I remember when they were first building [the house],” Berger said, “I could still literally smell the manure from the animals.”

Berger has lived in the area for a number of years, and she and her husband decided to buy their first house in the township because of the financial perks it offered for a starting family. They strategically decided to live in the Ann Arbor Schools half of Pittsfield, while still paying the lower township taxes. They now live in the spacious, beautiful house that gives them plenty of room for their two children.

“If our house was in Ann Arbor,” she calculated, “we would probably be paying another $3,000 to $4,000 a year in taxes, and a house our size would be at least double what we paid…. We got more bang for our buck.”

!http://farm1.static.flickr.com/223/481475658_e0405598f1.jpg!

According to Breuniger, it all comes down to the money, which is why he understands that many farmers turn to developers when they are ready to sell. He plans to keep farming for a long time yet, and he wants to give any of his four children the chance to take over the farm if they choose.

Unless the farm is passed down in the family, though, it is highly unlikely that the farm could be sold with the intentions of being farmed. Developers can offer a higher price than any farmer. Many farmers who sell are retiring, and have put in decades of hard work with little savings. Selling to developers gives them a substantial sum to retire on.

“You can’t buy land around here and expect to make the payment farming,” Bruce said, “There’s just no way. You know the ground is probably worth $3,000/acre for agricultural use, and you can buy an acre around here for $50,000 to develop. You just can’t pencil it.”

In the midst of this seemingly inevitable drain on agricultural land and open spaces, The Washtenaw Land Trust is diligently promoting creative ways to preserve land. The most common way that this is done is through a “conservation easement,” a legally binding contract that is reached between a landowner and a land trust.

These pacts are used statewide in an effort to soften the effects of development. As the website for the Washtenaw Land Trust proclaims, “A conservation easement…. Protects water quality, wildlife habitat, scenic views, agricultural productivity and other conservation values.”

The concept of these agreements is that a landowner can create a legal document setting guidelines for the development of his or her property. These guidelines vary, from prohibiting any building on the land to outlining part of the land to be preserved, to restricting what kind of development is allowed (i.e. commercial versus residential).

The Washtenaw Land Trust helps people make these contracts, and is then on responsible for making sure they are sustained. Suzie Heiney, a spokeswoman for the Land Trust, confirmed that the agreements are effective and permanent. “The courts in Michigan have upheld previous land conservation cases,” she said. “We haven’t had any problems but we’ll be prepared if any do arise.”

Suzie is one of many advocates for conservation easements. “What makes it a good tool is that it’s voluntary, flexible, and lasts forever,” she said.

This brings up the key weakness of the conservation easement program that will prevent their widespread use: It is harder to sell land that cannot be developed, and therefore it is a less economically assuring commitment for those who need the money. However, if the farmer or landowner is content to live on the land and is not seeking immediate profit, entering an easement would not present a problem.

The idea of a conservation easement presents one of the best solutions to land preservation. While many lament the sprawl outside of Ann Arbor, there are also reasons to be positive about the future of our county’s landscape.

While residential building did skyrocket between 1990 and 2000, grass and shrub land also increased by 19%. As of the year 2000, 82% of Washtenaw County’s land was still either undeveloped or used for agriculture. “The story is not yet written,” said Suzie, encouraged by these statistics. While the percentage may have fluctuated since, the majority of the land is still up for grabs.