Scott Everett, Regional Director for the American Farmland Trust, believes stemming the loss of farmland will require rural residents and city dwellers alike to get involved and go local. During the "Take a Stand for the Land" Earth Day event at the Capitol building in Lansing, Everett will share strategies and tactics for saving Michigan's farmland and turning the tide that threatens to strangle Michigan's agricultural economy.

"Land use, for me, is about fragmentation of farmland," said Everett. "Our agricultural land and farmland is being divided into parcels that are too small to farm but too big to mow. And once the land is divided into small parcels, there's no way to put them back together again."

Everett has served as the regional director of American Farmland Trust for three years. He is the former Legislative Counsel for the Michigan Farm Bureau. In the current system, he said, zoning is the only method of preserving farmland, and while it may have worked well in the past, new development pressures in an area can quickly show the system's deficiencies. "Zoning alone isn't working everywhere, especially not for farmers who are trying to stay in business for the long term while dealing with the influx of new residential development and new neighbors" he said.

"The issue has changed over the last few years. When purchase of development rights (PDR) was first utilized, it was done on a statewide base. It didn't take us long to figure that land use is a local issue. When you structure farmland protection programs, it's more effective on a county basis."

Scott Everett will speak at 11:15 a.m. at the "Take a Stand for the Land" Earth Day event on the Capitol lawn on Thursday, April 22, 2004. Visit www.mymichigan.org for registration information or contact Ben Stupka at benmec@voyager.net.