You're going to see farming decline in this county until it's extinct. Farmers can't buy farmland and cash flow it, so young farmers are having a very difficult time purchasing any ground. Earl Horning, chair of Farmers for Farmland Preservation, says even though the campaign included much literature and exposure on the issue, voters needed more education about farmland preservation and what the proposal would do for Washtenaw County. I don't have an answer for what happened at the polls, other than it was big money that stopped the issue. Over the last 15 years, Washtenaw County has lost 60,000 acres of farmland to development.
Many farmers see the defeat of the proposal as a green light for that trend to continue.
The proposal was met with strong opposition from Washtenaw Citizens for Responsible Growth, a group comprised and funded by homebuilders, contractors and realtors. After hearing the election results, Washtenaw County Farm Bureau President Laverne Leach says he's trying to figure out what went wrong and what could have been done differently to get the proposal passed. I was surprised to hear it went down in pretty much all the townships, only carrying Ann Arbor. While the results were not what the Farm Bureau wanted, Leach says they're not giving up. I think we need to look at other options.