[Editor's note: Don Coe is the managing partner of Black Star Farms near Suttons Bay and an important voice in the discussion of how develop Leelanau County's economy. The following remarks were recently submitted to the County Commissioners in connection with the discussion over a farmland preservation millage, and we are reprinting them here with Don's permission.]

First the good news. It is an established fact that agriculture and tourism are two of the mainstays for the economy in Leelanau County. It is also well recognized that these two endeavors are linked to many of the other economic sectors in the County whether they are residential construction for our non-homestead community, retail stores, restaurants, galleries, conservancies, and museums. Open land, national, state, and community parks, beaches, boat harbors, golf courses, ski hills, recreational trails, et al, are all linked to the mosaic that makes Leelanau County a place to live, work, play, invest, and raise families. This is the traditional and long held view of Leelanau County, and who can blame us for a certain smugness or satisfaction that “this is what we are and what makes us so special, and we are not going to change."

Second the bad news. There might be no reason to change if we lived in a static world or if our economy was thriving. In reality we do not live in such a world, and we cannot claim to be thriving. Leelanau County no longer enjoys an isolated position in either the world, Michigan or on Grand Traverse Bay. Leelanau County (projecting so proudly out into Lake Michigan) stands out prominently in any satellite photo, television weather report, or regional news coverage. We share exactly the same problems: low household incomes for our working families, declining school populations, illegal drugs, underemployment in seasonal jobs, deterioration or absence of essential infrastructure, increased demands for services, aging of our population, lack of affordable housing, pressures on water use, and urban sprawl - just to name a few. Can anyone deny that these issues have not been headline news in Leelanau County at one time or another or constantly for the last decade?

We have not escaped today's problems, but are we ready to address them? I sense a 1980's mentality about Leelanau County. We are still living in that time, and we are not completely sure we want to face up to today's challenges and responsibilities. Perhaps the problem is ours. Many of us came here in the 80’s, or our most active working years were in the 80's, and we are still living in that mindset. We remember when cherries were king in Leelanau's economy, tourism meant "those summer people", Sugar Loaf Resort offered some winter employment, our septic fields were not overflowing, and everyone was scandalized when the Sheriff talked about getting a drug dog. We came and we stayed because Leelanau County was beautiful, bucolic and yes, even boring. The 80's are gone. They will never come back, and Leelanau County will not be able to hide behind an old mindset.

My subject is Agricultural Tourism, and surprisingly enough this is a hot topic today - so much so that the Governor has just set up an Agricultural Tourism Commission housed within the Department of Agriculture to address this opportunity. If the subject of agricultural tourism is important enough to attract the attention of the bureaucrats in Lansing it certainly needs some attention in Leelanau County.

An old axiom is, "You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow's ear," and that is true for both agriculture and tourism in Leelanau County. We cannot expect to maintain or grow either agriculture or tourism in Leelanau County unless we move off our 80's mentality about either industry sector. We are not going to survive on one-crop “mono-culture” farming, lakeside resorts, and summer cottage residents. The cherry industry knows that, and the tourism industry has learned that. If we attempt to stay where we are, we doom ourselves to underemployment in seasonal jobs, a loss of farmland, and tourists finding other destinations. We will continue to grow houses rather than crops, watch our open land be consumed by urban sprawl, and become a bedroom community for wealthy retirees. We will see more of our young people departing for greater opportunities as we open more nursing homes and close more schools. Hardly a formula for building on what we now enjoy.

There is however, a way forward for Leelanau County. We are blessed with great natural resources, entrepreneurial business people who would like to live, work, play, invest, and raise families in Leelanau County, and the infrastructure for both agriculture and tourism. The barriers are only in our minds and in some of our public policies. We need to do a lot more to unleash the potential for both agriculture and tourism in Leelanau County so that the private sector can do what it does best.

I already hear someone saying, "Uh, oh, here comes another developer, spouting off about getting rich at our expense again - I just want it to be the same as it was - we don't need any change, particularly if it costs me anything - I am all right, let's keep it that way." However, there’s a funny thing about change…IT HAPPENS…and you either step aside, get run over, or jump on the wagon. The trick is to drive the wagon and that is called Smart Growth. What would Smart Growth be like in the agriculture and tourism sectors of Leelanau County?

Smart Growth for agriculture would be:

1. To get a grip on affordable farmland. We are losing farmland everyday to urban sprawl for all the reasons we know. As long as it remains more profitable to grow houses than to farm, that wagon is going to continue to run over our farming community. Any resource-based industry can only compete if it starts with an affordable resource, in this case the land. Maintaining agriculture will depend upon us underpinning agricultural land prices so that the farming community can be retained or we can attract new farmers. There are successful models for preservation of agriculture based upon farmland preservation. I can point to no successful models for agriculture preservation where highest land price has been able to determine the best use. If you want the best example take Napa Valley in California where the only way to stop sprawl and to keep agriculture was to establish the nation’s first agriculture preserve. There are no magic bullets, no government handouts. We have to decide whether we are going to support farmland preservation ourselves. That decision needs to be made by the people of Leelanau County.

2. To foster entrepreneurial agriculture or value-added or product agriculture. After the land, the most important ingredient is viable agriculture - the farmer has to make a living off his land. Successful farming is not a view shed it is a business. We have supported agriculture too long on the basis of growing a lot of commodity crops and growing them cheaply. That wagon is running over the farmer who is too small and who cannot compete in a world market. We do not have very large, low cost, commodity farms in Leelanau County. What we do have is specialty crops, smart farmers, and an established tradition of high quality, healthy food production. We are seeing growth in value-added agriculture in dozens of farm markets, fish, poultry, and beef suppliers, flower and herb growers, preserves, honey and maple syrup producers, wineries and cider mills as evidenced by MLUI's Taste The Local Difference program. We are seeing development of hydroponics, greenhouses, nutriceuticals, organics, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSI) farms. These are all based on doing more than simply growing a crop by adding processing, retailing, and marketing on the farm. One big advantage is moving from seasonal to year round employment. These all prove that if government policy, particularly in zoning restrictions, does not stand in the way and if land cost allow, the entrepreneur will invest in developing sustainable, value-added agriculture enterprises.

Smart Growth for tourism would be:

1. To encourage year round tourism development. We need to break the mindset and the reality of the "summer people" which restricts us to a very short season in northwest lower Michigan with all the dependence on a seasonal workforce. Leelanau County needs to be a year round tourist destination offering tourism jobs year round in Leelanau County. A destination today has to offer a variety of attractions in a variety of seasons. That is why we are so dependent upon our entire offerings in Leelanau County, not simply sun, beach, golf, and sailing. Our competitors know this well, and every time we drive away a new year round destination water park resort or a baseball field because of zoning or traffic or neighbor's concerns we benefit other destinations. We need to recognize that tourists have choices and they will go where they want to go and not necessarily for the reasons we treasure. We should be able to deal with local concerns by giving the developer an opportunity to do so rather than scaring him away up front in our press or public comments.

2. To build upon the agricultural heritage, the environment, and our multiple attractions to make Leelanau County the most successful agricultural/recreational/cultural tourism destination attraction in the Midwest. That could set us apart from other areas while ensuring our quality of life is maintained and enhanced. It won't be the 80's. Change will have occurred, but it will offer us a economic base more attractive to a young, stable work force that will continue to live, work, play, invest and raise families in Leelanau County. The alternative of becoming a bedroom community for Traverse City or a retirement home for downstaters is not appealing particularly when the cost for doing so will be so much higher than investing in a vibrant economy now.

There are very successful examples close to hand, and one of the best is the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario. They faced the same issues and have evolved into a major agricultural-recreational-cultural tourism destination by taking steps necessary to contain sprawl, to promote living in villages, to mix horticulture, viticulture and animal farming in townships, to support cultural and recreational attractions, and to manage through Smart Growth principals. We really have no choice. Like it or not, we are growing, but the way we’re growing is not smart and it’s threatening our way of life. Let’s work together to agree on public policies for Smart Growth.

Don Coe, Managing Partner
Black Star Farms