The leadership of the Church will not acknowledge or encourage the project in any official capacity, and will definitely not 'dispatch' members to live there.
The only exception being if there are actually 20k people, there may be a single pair of missionaries assigned to visit every now and then.
That's the story, but in the same breath he says:
'A plat, says Hall, will be subject to state and regional laws, but will also be overseen by a board and heirachries of leaders with, it appears, strong Mormon Family values.'
That's not exactly nothing.
It's interesting, Mormonism originally encouraged its members to move to a central place, but around 1950 then prophet (i.e. leader) David O. McKay told people it was fine to remain at home [1]. There are some interesting pockets out there as a result of this "gathering attitude", though, like (AFAIK) a fairly substantial group of Polynesian Mormons in and around Independence, Missouri (a key area in Mormon theology)[2].
[1] https://www.lds.org/manual/presidents-of-the-church-student-...
(search the term "where they live" in the article)
[2] https://www.lds.org/ensign/1979/06/saints-in-independence?la...
Joseph's Smith's communal utopia, finally realized? Oh yeah, there are people who will go for this.
Edit: As for farming, yes mormons will be fine with it. Google "mormon food storage" and you'll be amazed. They are taught to be ready for disasters at all times.