Farms as way to "grow" Detroit? (houses, employment)

[solibs]

So, apparently, some folks in LA think that's all Detroit is good for.

Investors see farms as way to grow Detroit - latimes.com

[canudigit]

Well, why not? Detroit's population today is less than half what it was fifty years ago. That means that there are literally thousands of houses in Detroit that are no longer needed to house the population. What is to be done with them if there are no people to live in them? Right now, the image that many Americans have of Detroit is of an urban wasteland of ghetto and dilapidated houses that even a sewer rat wouldn't want to live in (read some of the comments about Detroit on the other forums here just for starters), and even though a lot of those people, probably even the majority, have never even been to Detroit, the image still sticks. I don't think that farming is all that Detroit is good for, definitely not, but I also don't think that with Detroit in its current state it is going to attract any new businesses or industries. So why not tear down the rotting houses that Detroit no longer has the population to fill and are way beyond rehabbing anyway, and fill the space with open, green fields where something productive is going on? Show the world that Detroit is a city that can, when it is down, reinvent itself. Change peoples' images of Detroit as a filthy, industrial ghetto to an image of beautiful green fields that produce healthy food. The big trend now is towards anything "green", and what can be greener than that? Going "green" is something that might actually draw new businesses and industries other than manufacturing to Detroit, but leaving Detroit as it is today is not going to achieve that. It's not realistic to think that:

A.) New factories and manufacturing jobs are going to come to Detroit, not when labor is so much cheaper elsewhere, or

B.) That under 900,000 people can fill the space that 2 million people used to occupy. The population has shrunk and now the geographical area has to shrink along with it, or much of it it will always be an urban wasteland, and what, if not farm fields, will ever fill it again? Even if Detroit had positive job growth for ten years straight, virtually an impossibilty at this point, it will never possess nearly the number of jobs or people that it once did, because that would mean more than doubling the population and adding thousands and thousands of new jobs. With all of the global competition and low wages in other parts of the country and world, Detroit will never see that kind of growth again.

Anything that is innovative enough to get someone at the LA Times to do an article on it is worth a try, IMHO, because at this point, I don't think that Detroit has anything to lose. My only concerns are that the city will tax the land at a rate that will make it unattractive for farming companies to buy it, and that there will be environmental issues with soil contamination where the factories used to stand. Contamination issues are sometimes very expensive to address.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Farms as way to "grow" Detroit?


Well, it is a little known piece of information, but...the hubcaps on most vehicles are actually seeds. If you plant them about 2 ft. deep, in full sun and insure that they get water at least 3 times a week, you too can grow your own cars!

[MICoastieMom]

Dusty, not sure if you meant that as a joke, but you are not far from the truth. Henry Ford was a great believer in soybeans as an alternative to rubber and plastics. He spent a good deal of time, money, and effort developing manufacturing uses for soybeans.

I think the idea is a good one, provided the investors are from Michigan, and it benefits the people of Detroit and Michigan first. I would like to see employment opportunities for local people to learn how to run a farm site. I can see the potential for neighborhood gardens and classes where the people can learn how to farm/garden in a responsible way and discover the benefits of eating locally grown produce. 4-H has urban gardening programs, what a great way to reach young people and give them something to be proud of.

[zthatzmanz28]

Originally Posted by Dusty Rhodes

Farms as way to "grow" Detroit?


Well, it is a little known piece of information, but...the hubcaps on most vehicles are actually seeds. If you plant them about 2 ft. deep, in full sun and insure that they get water at least 3 times a week, you too can grow your own cars!

Planted one a few years ago...I thought there was a tie rod starting to sprout this summer.

Seriously, farming would be a viable idea.

But what would it cost if it was done on a large scale?

Neighborhoods could (some have been) farming vacant lots.

To be done in such a way as to economically sustain folks it has to be LARGE scale.

There are somewhere around 700,000 to 800,000 people in the city, many who NEED some form of work and income.

To take the land for farming, it should return an income to the people and the city otherwise all the people get is food (which is good) but no income for the city's population.

[malamute]

Why not? Detroit could really go green again. It sits on excellent farm land. A lot of the buildings sit empty, boarded up, ready for demolation.

[Jwo85]

I'm just waiting for them to legalize Deer Hunting in the city so I don't have too travel far up north.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Originally Posted by Jwo85

I'm just waiting for them to legalize Deer Hunting in the city so I don't have too travel far up north.

Luckily I am in quite rural N.C. I've already gotten three, my freezer and those of the people I hunt with are full and now we are getting meat for several Hispanic families that we help feed every year. Here, the deer are considered as a pest, each hunter can kill two deer a day (gender not important) for each of the 43 hunting days this season. We can not hunt on Sundays, we suspect the logic for this is, ---- Most people and ALL game animals are Baptist and it is against the law to shoot a Baptist on Sunday.

[canudigit]

I was just looking at the Hantz Farms website:

Hantz Farms | World's Largest Urban Farm Planned for the City of Detroit

Not only do I think that this is a very doable idea, but a very good one too. Can you imagine apple orchards and woods where collapsed houses and vacant lots full of weeds used to be? How awesome if people actually drove through Detroit to see the beauty of it, instead of avoiding it because of the blight!

I realize that all of this is several years from fruition for a variety of reasons, but how awesome if and when it becomes a reality.

The big irony here is that when Detroit developed into a manufacturing behemoth beginning back in the early 20th century, people moved there to escape agricultural jobs in the South, generally sharecropping, for manufacturing jobs in the North. Now, if this plan works, hundreds of people will be put back to work in...agriculture. But you know what they say, the only constant is change, and there are thousands of people in Detroit who would be thrilled to have a job on the farm at this point. Meanwhile, what's left of the manufacturing sector in this country is being concentrated more and more in the South because of lower pay scales and the absence of labor unions. Who would have ever pictured this happening?

[rnc76]

I'm an outsider but I read the article about Hanzt yesterday. I thought it was a fascinating idea. I definitely think they should try it first with a few hundred acres. I liked how the concept is to have multiple urban farms, each a few hundred acres. Then plan development around these islands of green in the ubran landscape. Realistically, the manufacturing days of Detroit are gone. Labor is too cheap elsewhere. I think a concept like this make Detroit a leader in agricultural research. The population of the earth is growing, we have to find new, novel, healthy ways to feed people, urban farms could be part of that solution.