Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Can farming save Detroit? (Article)

Unique idea to turn Detroit into an urban farm with solar panels and windmills to produce sustainable agriculture (and jobs!)

Yes, a farm. A large-scale, for-profit agricultural enterprise, wholly contained within the city limits of Detroit. Hantz thinks farming could do his city a lot of good: restore big chunks of tax-delinquent, resource-draining urban blight to pastoral productivity; provide decent jobs with benefits; supply local markets and restaurants with fresh produce; attract tourists from all over the world; and -- most important of all -- stimulate development around the edges as the local land market tilts from stultifying abundance to something more like scarcity and investors move in. Hantz is willing to commit $30 million to the project. He'll start with a pilot program this spring involving up to 50 acres on Detroit's east side. "Out of the gates," he says, "it'll be the largest urban farm in the world."

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/29/news/economy/farming_detroit.fortune/index.htm?cnn=yes

Is urban farming the answer? What are the benefits? What are the costs?


0 comments: