A Richmond Township farm has become the first in Macomb County preserved under a state program that awards a farmer a purchase price while allowing him to continue working his land.

Farmer Thomas Montgomery sold the "development rights" to his land to the state and Richmond Township at a price of $5,100 per acre. In exchange, he committed the 38.5 acres to agricultural use in perpetuity by placing a deed restriction on the property.

"My father bought the farm when I was small, then I inherited the land," Montgomery said in a press release. "Now, I want to keep it in agriculture whenever it leaves my hands."

The purchase, completed Feb. 19, recognizes that a residential or commercial developer would pay up to $9,000 per acre for the property, according to an appraisal. The price awarded to Montgomery allows him to keep the land until he retires from farming, plus it provides him with cash that can be used to purchase farm machinery, upgrade the farm operation or invest in an estate plan.

The purchase was just the fifth completed in Michigan under a preservation program that took hold in 2005. Working with local communities and organizations, the state Department of Agriculture awarded five preservation grants in 2005 worth $1.3 million and six more in 2006 valued at $1.5 million.

The Montgomery farm transaction was a group effort. It was financed by a $114,000 state grant, a $15,000 allocation from the Detroit-based Carls Foundation, a $15,000 contribution from the Macomb County Farm Bureau, $2,900 from Richmond Township, and $1,000 each from Armada, Bruce, Lenox and Ray townships.

Those five townships serve as the home base for the Macomb Agricultural Purchase of Development Rights Committee. MAPDRC is the first multi-governmental entity in Michigan to work in unison on land-use issues. Its chairman, Ken DeCock, is part of a group of farmers which has spent nearly a decade promoting ways to save Macomb's agricultural heritage.

According to one estimate, Macomb County's total farmland will fall from 61,000 acres in 2000 to 28,000 in 2020. The numbers of farms, based on recent suburban sprawl trends, may plummet from 444 to 34 in those 20 years.

The owner of a Macomb Township farm, DeCock has promoted the purchase of development rights approach that has proved successful for decades in Pennsylvania. He brought Macomb County and Michigan State University Extension officials into MAPDRC and now the group is working on another farm-saving transaction in Bruce Township.

Rich Harlow, who oversees farmland preservation for the Department of Agriculture, said the state program has proceeded slowly due to limited funds. The state cannot match a developer's price, but if a family has an "attachment to the land," Harlow said, they are willing to accept a development rights option.

In 2005, though the Department of Agriculture's selection process picked only five projects, the state received applications for preservation grants worth $16 million.

DeCock said protecting farmland must focus on the continual passing of agricultural property from one generation to the next. The farmer's children may not be interested in working the land, he said, but the development rights option may convince them to maintain the farm forever.

The maintenance of farmland preserves open spaces, according to advocates, and keeps crops within close proximity to the big suburban communities that consume agricultural goods.

"Do you want to still have 'cheap food?'" DeCock asks. "Do you want to be able to drive out to the country without having to go way north?"