Detroit revitalizes urban farming to replace dying industry.
As a city still haunted by the death of its auto and manufacturing industries, Detroit is looking for any alternatives to help it regrow. The answer to its economic woes, however, may require a little digging into its agricultural past.
Before becoming the bustling Motown, Detroit was a stretch of farmland. Today, it hopes to trade in abandoned buildings for rich soil.
"There's so much land available, and it's begging to be used," said Michael Score, president of the Hantz Farms, which is buying up abandoned sections of the city's 139-square-mile landscape and plans to transform them into a large-scale commercial farm enterprise. "Farming is how Detroit started," Score said, "and farming is how Detroit can be saved."
Can urban gardening put Detroit back on the map?
Thanks to Akshali Gandhi
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research