Shifting Farm Economy Means Changes for Rural Communities

 By Lillian Williams    

As Michigan loses more farms, rural communities are experiencing significant changes, experts say.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that Michigan lost about 1,300 farms between 2023 and 2024. 

Matt Munsell, a farmer growing corn, wheat and pumpkins in Fowlerville, said that as the agricultural economy has gotten worse, local farmers have been presented with two options for survival. 

“Either you have to keep adding acres to get more land to cover equipment costs and all that, or you have to diversify into higher-value crops,” Munsell said.

Michigan State University professor Bill Knudson agreed that where possible, farms will continue to grow. 

“This will mean that there will be fewer farms in a given region, but those farms that remain will be larger, and those larger farms may or may not service or do business in a rural community,” said Knudson of the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics.