"Farmers are increasingly posting in online marketplaces or taking out personal ads to find buyers for their land. Programs in several states help farmers do this when they don't have a relative or friend to pass the farm on to. Sophia Saliby of member station WKAR reports. SOPHIA SALIBY, BYLINE: For most of his adult life, Thomas Lodge has been involved in agriculture, studying botany, creating a mushroom wholesale business and building an organic farm outside of Detroit."
"SALIBY: So he made a post on an online platform in Michigan called MIFarmLink, which connects landowners with farm-seekers and found Simon Yevzelman. He and his wife wanted to launch new livelihoods in agriculture and were excited about finding Lodge's property. SIMON YEVZELMAN: It's one in a billion that a turnkey farm was available 30 minutes from our door in Dearborn Heights. SALIBY: This is the second year the Yevzelmans have grown vegetables, flowers, mushrooms and herbs to sell to customers on the land that they lease from Lodge."
Online platforms and state programs are increasingly matching retiring or selling landowners with aspiring farmers through listings and personal ads. These marketplaces enable landowners to find tenants or buyers who share stewardship values and continue farm operations when no family successor exists. Platforms like MIFarmLink facilitate direct connections between landowners and farm-seekers, enabling lease or sale arrangements. Such connections can produce turnkey opportunities for beginning farmers to grow vegetables, mushrooms, flowers, and herbs while allowing landowners to ensure conservation, continuity, and the preservation of established farm brands and certifications.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]