Vestergaard Farms

Mike Vestergaard was able to purchase the old Frederick family farm on Wagner Road in Lodi Township, just outside Ann Arbor, in 2009 after the previous owners sold the development rights on 100-plus acres for more than $770,000. "There was no way that I could make a budget work without having those development rights sold off," Vestergaard said. The farm had been in the Frederick family for many years but it had been passed down to a generation that was not interested in farming it. After restoring old barns and making other improvements, Vestergaard and his family are planning to open a farm store by next summer. He plans to sell his own pasture-raised meat products, plus dairy products from another farm. He already has belted galloway cattle roaming a section of the property and plans to eventually have 112 acres laid out in pastures for rotational grazing. "We farm with organic principles," he said. "Everything is grass-based from the hogs to cows, and also we're going to be moving into chickens." Read story.