Watch: Michigan podcaster Anna Matson details decades of farmer strife in Peninsula Township

In part one of a two-part series, independent journalist Anna Matson, host of Michigan-centered podcast If People Only Knew*, *sat down with Chris Baldyga, owner of 2 Lads Winery on Michigan’s Old Mission Peninsula. Together, they unpacked one of the most contentious local land-use battles that led to a $49.3 million award against Peninsula Township, and shed light on the ground-level realities driving Michigan’s alarming rate of prime agricultural land loss.

As previously reported, Michigan lost 100,000 acres of prime agricultural land in 2024 alone,  stemming from Gov. Whitmer’s 2023 signing Public Acts 233 and 235. While the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act prevents local units of government from banning data centers, PA 233 allows large-scale renewable projects to bypass local control as PA 235 incentivizes new development through tax credits.

#40 – Peninsula Township Part 1: The 49 Million Dollar Verdict

If People Only Knew that Peninsula Township has imposed unconstitutional ordinances on their 11 winery owners over the course of several decades.

The wineries ultimately sued which resulted in a five year, 49… pic.twitter.com/6JasdmRUaB

— Anna Matson (@AnnaRMatson) April 17, 2026

While these state laws  protect large-scale developments from local scrutiny, farmers – facing record high input costs and five consecutive years of income loss – are not protected from local ordinances unless they convert land use to the State’s protected activities.

From 2023-2024, Michigan saw the conversion of about 200 family owned farms, primarily to solar energy plants. According to the State’s interconnection queue, that rate of land conversion is set to double going into 2027.

Humanizing the battle from the farmer’s side, Baldyga’s account on Matson’s podcast cut through the false framing of wealthy “corporate farmers” pitted against their own neighbors. Baldyga – speaking to the squeeze of tighter margins and astronomical input costs – explained that diversification, wine tastings, small gatherings, and tourism have become a lifeline for the survival of his family owned farm on the Old Mission Peninsula.

Baldyga walked Matson through more than a decade of meetings with planners where farmers repeatedly sought winery-specific ordinances for a workable agribusiness model, only to face the intransigence of elected officials—starting the entire cycle all over again from square one.

Exposing the costs of rigid and reactionary leadership, Baldyga said that frustrations began to brew as thriving agritourism operations were treated like full-blown commercial venues.

“It’s not as if we were attempting to operate a convenience store under the guise of a tasting room,” Baldyga said, explaining that ordinances prohibited his winery from selling Two Lads t-shirts or ball caps as souvenirs.

Yet, Baldyga said relations really began to sour when township officials filed a complaint with the Michigan Liquor Control Commission over a glass. Though no violations were found upon inspection, Baldyga said the event marked a turning point that quickly devolved into an environment of constant uncertainty and arbitrary enforcement.

At the core of this regulatory arbitrage was vague and ambiguous language in the township’s zoning ordinances governing “guest activities.” Baldyga explained that the definition of permissible “guest activities” frequently changed, depending on who he spoke with at the township office.

However, restrictions only seemed to increase without a baseline of what was allowed. Soon after, new ordinances were passed that compelled the closely watched promotional speech of wineries. Wineries were also required to discriminate against the type of guests allowed to participate in events.

“It became really difficult to look a guest in the eye and tell them we couldn’t host their small event or serve them the way they wanted,” Baldyga said, adding that the indefensible rules became a liability for the farm’s longevity.

By mid-2020, ambiguities reached a boiling point for the Peninsula’s 11 wineries, resulting in the difficult decision to seek remedy through the courts. As Baldyga explained, that decision came with heavy costs, but he said they were left with no other choice.

Detailed on the Township website, the case took twists and turns over the course of five years. Filings indicate that delays were caused by everything from the township’s attempt to block winery testimony, to a NIMBY, a common acronym for “Not in My Backyard,” group called Protect The Peninsula filing an appeal to be added to the case, after the court initially denied its motion to intervene on behalf of the township.

On July 7, 2025, however, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney issued a smackdown of a ruling, signaling the end of his patience.

In a 75-page bench opinion that laid bare the township’s constitutional violations, the court found the “Guest Activity Uses” provisions in the Peninsula Township Zoning Ordinance “impossible to understand,” with vagueness that invited arbitrary enforcement and the deprivation of rights under the color of law.

“Plaintiffs suffered actual injuries — lost profits — stemming from an impossible to understand ordinance and arbitrary enforcement of the same,” the ruling states.

On vagueness under the Due Process Clause, the opinion declared: “The term ‘Guest Activity’ is unconstitutionally vague in violation of the Due Process Clause.” Multiple sections tied to this phrase were struck down and rendered immediately unenforceable.

The court also identified First Amendment violations, ruling that certain provisions unconstitutionally compelled speech by requiring wineries to limit promotional language that restrained commercial speech without sufficiently advancing legitimate interests.

Concluding the interview, Baldyga and Matson opined that perhaps the best way to preserve the rural character of an area is to support local farmers.

Prior to concluding part 1, Matson read directly from the court ruling. Noting that the rules had limited the economic viability of the wineries, the court’s bench opinion emphasized that the township had undermined its stated intent of preserving the township’s rural character—”leading to situations in which farms could not exist on Old Mission Peninsula.”

Emphasizing how the township was unable to produce a single witness, including the township’s supervisor, who could explain the vague ordinances to the court, Matson urged residents to refocus attention on the high costs of failed leadership.

Matson closed the segment by noting ongoing strife under the post-verdict rules while highlighting the unresolved financial stakes for the township’s roughly 6,000 residents.

In addition to spending taxpayer resources fighting on appeals, the township faces new lawsuits over allegations of retaliation, and divisive actions. One example stemmed from public discussions about insurance coverage, as residents have been warned their taxes could increase and services might be cut.

In a review of the lengthy legal filings, The Midwesterner found a request to hold the township and its counsel in contempt of court for concealing an insurance policy from the wineries and township residents.

“Despite being sanctioned two years ago for failing to produce all its insurance policies, the Wineries learned on August 11, 2025, that the Township has yet another insurance policy, from yet another insurer, that it did not produce,” the document states—further alleging egregious misconduct and a history of games played.

“But even after all of that, not much has changed,” Matson warned, setting up Part 2 to explore how new ordinances, along with emerging issues – perceived as retaliatory – have only made it more difficult for the wineries to operate.

While payment has been stayed for now, the episode sets the stage for deeper questions about governance, compromise, and the real costs of prolonged conflict at a time when the only thing holding back hyperscale data centers, and sprawling utility-scale energy plants are the diversified and economically viable operations of Michigan’s farmers.

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