Michigan incubator farm turns aspiring growers into farmers

At the Great Lakes Incubator Farm on the southern edge of Traverse City, Michigan, a seven-month program brings together a three-student cohort to learn pest management, tractor driving, and farm business planning—while aiming to make farming feel possible for

The first lesson arrives before the paperwork, before the long-term plans. It arrives in the field.

On farmland at the southern edge of Traverse City. Michigan. the Great Lakes Incubator Farm is built for the moment when an idea turns into dirt under your nails—and when the work refuses to be theoretical. Over seven months. a three-student cohort learns how to run a farm by doing it: topics like pest management. how to drive a tractor. and what to include in a farm business plan.

For Rachel Greenberg. a 33-year-old student farmer from Indianapolis. the hard parts don’t wait politely until the end of the program. “Nobody gets into farming for sane reasons. other than the sanity of knowing where your food comes from and just general health. ” she said. “The challenges are pretty never-ending.”.

She is also clear about why she came. Farm bankruptcies were up 46 percent last year, according to a National Farm Bureau report. And as land prices have risen because of demand from developers. research has found that more than 50. 000 acres of farmland have been lost in the last two decades. In that kind of environment, the program’s central promise—training without the crushing pressure of immediate survival—matters.

Greenberg said the farm training program. a project of the Grand Traverse Conservation District. has fewer economic pressures than running a farm business. The fruits and vegetables that students grow will go to local residents who have already committed to buying the season’s produce. Leftovers will be donated to food-rescue operations. Unlike a traditional business, the goal isn’t to make a profit.

“The whole incubator idea is something you see a lot in the world of entrepreneurship, and it’s beautiful that somebody saw that and was like, ‘Why don’t we just do that with farming?’” Greenberg said.

That mix of hands-on training and real community hookups is drawing people who want more than a credential. Troy Saruna, 28, came to the program after working in conservation around the country, with no farming experience behind him. He said he wants to understand how climate change. which can bring more severe weather. connects to the natural world he’s spent years studying.

“I’m just really interested in striking up a new balance where I can understand, interpret, and just develop some new instincts in terms of feeding myself and having thriving communities that also support wildlife,” Saruna said.

The training program leans into regenerative agriculture. a method of farming that focuses on soil health and reduces the amount of heat-trapping gases released into the atmosphere. Saruna framed it as something larger than a production plan. “Our food systems are just so inextricably tied to the health of the planet,” he said.

For some students. the program is also a way to slow down and learn systems that don’t always come naturally. Shanaya Holmes, 49, runs a small 4-acre farm in Alabama. She said she wants to learn how to grow food in a different climate than the South and to improve her record-keeping—tracking what’s been planted. what soil was used. or how much money was spent on equipment.

“It’s a challenge to switch that button off to come inside and do bookwork, bookwork, bookwork when you’re so used to outside, outside, outside,” she said.

The people running the farm describe it less as an endpoint and more as a stepping stone. Adam Brown, the farm’s manager and instructor, said the farmer training program is meant to help people move into broader work in the food system.

“It’s really built for anybody who can then filter out and work anywhere in the food system, either manage a farm, start their own business, or any rung of that ladder where people can just help out in the food system,” Brown said.

Brown’s background is in ecology. and he said he wouldn’t have pursued farming himself if it wasn’t for a similar training program he did 15 years ago on the West Coast. “I can pay it forward. my lessons. and all the wisdom that I learned throughout my years of farming. and be a mentor to these other people. and I feel like it’s super important. ” he said.

The program is now in its second year. and it’s positioned as one of the only such options in northern Michigan. according to data from Michigan State University. Around the country. there are roughly 100 similar programs. according to a group at Tufts University that coordinates a national network of training farms. though no comprehensive list exists.

For all its momentum, funding remains a visible stress point. The Great Lakes Incubator Farm relies mostly on a nearly $700,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture aimed at supporting beginner farmers. Brown said that grant ends after the harvest season in October. and he plans to reapply for USDA funding again this year. He also said he’s looking for backup options because of how competitive the grant program is.

The broader funding picture has grown more unpredictable. In 2025. the USDA canceled $148 million in grants—including some in the beginner farmer program—to comply with President Donald Trump’s early executive orders targeting climate action. environmental justice. and diversity. equity. and inclusion.

Brown said that besides the USDA grant, there aren’t many large pools of money available that support efforts to train the next generation of farmers. (He added that the Great Lakes Incubator Farm is also supported by some state grants.)

Even when new farmers do arrive, LaPorte said sustainability can be difficult for the programs that train them. Jon LaPorte. a farm business management educator for Michigan State University Extension. said lack of consistent funding is a big reason there aren’t more of these training programs. LaPorte said Michigan State University Extension put together a beginner farmer’s guide in partnership with the USDA last year. and he described the problem as double pressure: programs try to help people get started. but they also face the same struggles staying afloat.

“It’s almost like a double-edged sword that they’re trying to help people get started, but then they’ve got the same struggles of staying sustainable themselves,” LaPorte said.

He pointed to the risk of churn: even as the share of young people in farming grows. programs to support them might be harder to come by. In Michigan, farmers under the age of 45 increased by about 20 percent between 2017 and 2022, according to the USDA’s census. LaPorte said sustaining that growth will be a challenge.

“Because of those hurdles, they don’t all stay in, and what we want to see is more of those people being able to stay in, having more farms, more diversity of farms,” LaPorte said. “More people involved in agriculture at that level is really, really important.”

At the incubator farm, the lesson is still the same: farming doesn’t pause for setbacks. Brown said students in his training program learn that the growing season doesn’t always go smoothly, and challenges like frost damage on plants are part of the job.

“This is a great space for failure too, right? Because there’s not a whole lot of risk here,” Brown said. “It’s a perfect, experimental type of atmosphere.”

For students stepping into agriculture at a time when costs, land access, and shifting weather can make the field feel out of reach, that atmosphere may be the point. Not just to grow food, but to grow capacity—before the real-world stakes fully arrive.

Michigan farming incubator farm Great Lakes Incubator Farm Traverse City regenerative agriculture soil health beginner farmers USDA grants climate change regenerative farming pest management tractor training