Agricultural Preservation Fund Grants

The Agricultural Preservation Fund and associated Agricultural Preservation Fund Board provide grants to eligible local units of government and their qualified Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) programs to preserve farmland. The program seeks to protect agricultural lands and open space from conversion to non-agricultural uses through permanent conservation agreements.

Applicants must be local units of government—including counties, cities, townships, and villages with statutory zoning authority—that maintain a qualified local Purchase of Development Rights program certified by the Michigan Agricultural Preservation Fund Board.

Grant awards must be used directly for the purchase of permanent agricultural conservation easements to protect and preserve farmland under Part 362 of Public Act 451 of 1994.

Applications are administered on an annual cycle. Qualified local programs must submit grant applications according to the Michigan Agricultural Preservation Fund Policies & Procedures, Application Process & Scoring System. Program staff can be reached by phone at 517-243-7949 or by email at KrohnJ@Michigan.gov.