Bulldozing All the Blight and Turning it Into Farmland (Detroit: mortgages, unemployment)

[Tripod9in]

Just seen your question, sorry if I am repeating someone. Don't plant anything for human consumption in areas that have been left abandon with lead paint used on/in the residence. Unfortunately this includes lots of abandon homes in Detroit.

[porchpickup]

Originally Posted by Arnnnold

Not trying to troll, just asking an honest question =). But seriously there are new ways to remove the contaminants, and fix the depletion of nutrients from the soil. For example there is a new method in Japan of using zeolite, activated charcoal, natto extract, iron, combined with a magnet to remove radioactive cesium from their water supply. All that cheap land going to waste what a shame. Although, I suppose it's not worth it to spend money cleaning up the soil, and restoring the nutrients in it, if the property taxes are so high. I think they should just have a moratorium on the property taxes, let the businessmen come in and increase the value of the land, and then bring back the taxes after 5-10 years. I wish the local officials would just get out of the way, and let the businessmen fix it, but I guess it's going to be a 1-3 more decades, before they are all removed or go to jail the way you describe it. It's not like they have done anything productive with that land for years anyway. 100000x0 still equals 0, so I think it's far better for them to except less money for property taxes on agriculture land, than 0 on blighted land that is worthless.

If you have enough experience in Agriculture in general, you would already know the potential of the Detroit land. I'm not sure how much you know, but unless you're growing organic "pick your own produce" stuff for local Detroiters, you need a ton more space than that.

Just because our ancestors knew how to farm without needing a degree in farming doesn't make it easy. In today's economic climate, you will have to use specific and elaborate methods to keep up with the low prices other massive farms are selling their produce at.

I'm slowly helping my father on his farm, and it's not easy task!

With that said, you might as well get into farming in a more traditional setting.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Tripod9in

Just seen your question, sorry if I am repeating someone. Don't plant anything for human consumption in areas that have been left abandon with lead paint used on/in the residence. Unfortunately this includes lots of abandon homes in Detroit.

Why is that?

[Coldjensens]

Detroit's population is less than half of what it was at the peak. There is certainly a huge amount of vacant land. One problem is that it is not connected. Thus, you have lots here and there, but few large contiguous tracts.

I do not understand the assumption that all of the property in Detroit is contaminated. People just automatically accept this as a given. The abandoned areas include residential, commercial and industrial properties. Some (but not all) industrial properties will be contaminated. Commercial properties are not likely to be contaminated. Residential properties are not likely to have major contamination. Someone mentioned lead paint. Paint is something like 1/1000th of an inch thick. Lead was only a small component of the lead paints. The amount of lead paint that will simply fall off a house is inconsequential when it is plowed into 1/6 acre or more of land. I have never heard that plants can absorb a dangerous level amount of lead form soil, but it may be possible if there were huge amounts of lead (like you might find at some dumpsites) Some lead is naturally occurring in many locations. So is arsenic and other toxins. In tiny amounts, they do no harm to food production. Almost all existing farms are heavily contaminated with DDT as well as other residue of other pesticides, fungicides, and fertilizers. Farmers do not run around trying to remove all of the toxins from their soil. Some places in Detroit may have unacceptable levels of contamination due to long term dumping at factory locations, many, probably most will have no significant levels of contamination. The simple answer to to not buy contaminated property unless you want to clean it up. Not all contaminants are a problem for food growing. For example, Asbestos is considered a contaminate because it can be bad to breathe clouds of airborne dust particles. However pieces of asbestos products in the soil is not a danger to growing food. It is inert. Many contaminates, such as benzene, Xylene and even many oils degrade over time and become safe. Many industrial sites have been abandoned for decades.

There are a lot of hurdles to overcome for urban farming in Detroit, but contamination is not likely to be a major one if you choose the property carefully. If you did find a contaminated area, you might be able to get Federal money to clean it up.

The bigger concern is the removal of debris, buildings, foundations, and utilities. Some of the utility networks running through abandoned areas are still in use. Thus, you cannot just dig them up and throw them away.

The City government is much improved, but still has a way to go. Red tape is a problem and taxes are onerous. Both property tax and city income tax is high and when you try to get a refund on city income tax, you will learn the true meaning of bureaucratic stalling.

Security is a substantial problem. Without a fence, your produce will likely disappear. Fences are expensive and sometimes industrious criminals will even steal your fence.

Another major problem is city services and infrastructure. You will need water for your crops (sometimes, it rains a lot here), trash removal, road maintenance, police and fire protection and ambulance service if someone is injured on your farm. The vacant areas are not well maintained and receive very poor city services. Many roads are nearly impassible and parts of some roads do not get cleared of snow at all.

If you pay taxes based on city lot values, you will go broke. If you negotiate reduced taxes as an incentive, it might be even harder to get services. However you would think that the City would be happy to make a deal for reduced taxes in areas where they are currently getting no taxes. The problem is that if they make a deal with you, others will want the same deal.

a few people have started urban farms in Detroit. Most are small or are community garden type places. I have not heard how they are doing. Some groups started buying up property to convert to farming, but suddenly we heard no more from or about them as well. There was a website dedicated to urban farming in Detroit, but i am not sure if it is maintained and I am not interested enough to go look for it.

[detwahDJ]

Most of Detroit is residential - lawns and flowerbeds.

[SadieMirsade]

Vertical Farms: From Vision to Reality – State of the Planet

[intelfan11315]

I wasn't paying much attention, but anyone who thinks India is an emerging superpower really needs to visit that country. It is hell..

[SadieMirsade]

Here is an idea, ripe and right for Detroit.

No groceries for a year: How one family saved money, lost weight, and lived well - Shine from Yahoo! Canada

[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by SadieMirsade

Here is an idea, ripe and right for Detroit.
No groceries for a year: How one family saved money, lost weight, and lived well - Shine from Yahoo! Canada

Looks like Wall Street's plan for the American middle class.

[SadieMirsade]

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

Looks like Wall Street's plan for the American middle class.

I already expected this.

There is now way that any new industries can employ all our unemployed,
plus the growing population.

In order to kill time,
and in order to be able to maintain our standard of living,
we will HAVE TO produce our own food,
mend our own clothes,
fix our own cars....etc.

New technologies will make a lot of these tasks easier.