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The Centennial Farm Program is intended to recognize farms that have remained in the same family for one hundred years or more and highlight the family farm's contributions to Michigan's development. To be designated as a Centennial Farms a property must be a working farm of 10 or more acres that has been continuously owned by the same family for at least 100 years.
The Centennial Farm Program is part of the Historical Society of Michigan, the state's official historical society and its oldest cultural organization, founded in 1828. The first Centennial Farms were designated by the State of Michigan's Michigan Historical Commission beginning in 1948 with support from  Detroit Edison Company, Consumers Power Company, local electrical cooperatives and farm groups. The Centennial Farms Program was transferred from the State of Michigan's Michigan Historical Commission to the Historical Society of Michigan on July 1, 2008.
Centennial Farm owners receive a Michigan Centennial Farm Certificate from the Historical Society of Michigan and a display marker for the farm. The official green-and-yellow markers are sponsored by Michigan electrical utility companies to commemorate the dramatic changes electricity brought to farm operation and family life. All Centennial Farm families are provided a one-year membership in the Historical Society of Michigan which includes publications, access to historical conferences, a highlight section on awarded farms in the Society's quarterly magazine the Chronicle and much more.
Centennial farm families are also eligible for membership in the Michigan Centennial Farm Association, an affinity group of farmers who have obtained Centennial and/or Sesquicentennial farm status. The Association was established in 1955.
The Historical Society of Michigan also offers a Sesquicentennial Farm Program to recognize, upon request, certified centennial farms that have been owned by the same family for 150 years or longer. Please see the Applications page to down load an application form for the Centennial and Sesquicentennial programs.
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