An Open Letter to the Rev. Jesse Jackson

Dear Rev. Jesse Jackson:

I recently read in the Detroit News that you described urban farming in Detroit as a “cute, but foolish” idea. Instead of urban farming, you said, Detroit should add a battery plant. The city, you said, should obtain more industry because the Motor City should not become Moo-City. Also, you said, the city should allow urban squatting so people can take over vacant land and develop it. After all, you said, we are not urging farming in Baghdad.

Indeed.

Mr. Jackson, putting farms on uninhabited land is better than allowing weeds and garbage to grow from it. Growing food on urban farms could provide low-income residents with easier access to fresh produce and fruit. And if those farms use new technology, such as aeroponics, then a new green industry that uses less land and water could be developed. That can lead to new jobs producing not only food, but developing the technology used in such farming. There can even be an educational component to urban farming. Students could be exposed to other areas of agriculture, from creating plant hybrids to new food packaging methods to better storage facilities. Who knows, a Detroit high school student exposed to the possibilities of soy beans might decide to pursue a career that leads to finding other uses for soy. Simply, urban farming could be about more than just growing corn and selling it. It could be about developing technology so that food could be grown in the heart of Baghdad or even in drought stricken Ethiopia.

Adding a battery plant could further encumber the city to the auto industry, which has cyclical declines that often pull down the rest of the region’s economy. Part of the reason Detroit is in such financial trouble today is because of its dependency on the auto industry and the insulated nature of that industry. The city cannot abandon the auto industry, which is too much a part of its history and future, but Detroit must look to non auto-related ways to bring in revenue during an economic downturn. New farm technology could be developed and built in Detroit then shipped elsewhere.

In addition, urban areas have continuously been too dependent on manufacturing, particularly those enterprises that employ unskilled or low-skilled workers. We have seen manufacturing jobs dry up year after year, decade after decade, leaving most of urban America pot marked with abandoned factories and warehouses. Detroit doesn't need more of the same. The city is in desperate shape, so why not take a chance on something different? Why not break the mold and experiment with ideas that are not within the usual context of urban thinking? According to you, instead of using empty land for farming, the city should give it away to squatters for development. What a marvelous idea. Give away city land with the hope that someone will someday build on it. Such a plan could lead to land speculation and greater corruption in a city already reeling from corruption.

If you believe so much in the development potential of Detroit then how about you and some of your rich friends – the ones that received Coca-Cola franchises after your protests several decades ago – build a bottling plant in the city or some other business. And if you decide to do so, Mr. Jackson, please do it on land purchased from the city, not obtained through squatting. People like you have been squatting over Detroit for far too long, dropping all the wrong things on the city.

Requiem for Farmer Floyd

When I was growing up in Detroit, there was a little boy on our block whom we called Farmer Floyd because he liked to wear overalls. It was our little joke: The urban farmer.

A few years ago, when visiting Detroit and driving by my former high school, I noticed that one of the two other schools that shared the complex with Central had been razed. I wondered: What if Central took that land and turned it into a greenhouse, allowing its science students to experiment with growing flowers, vegetables and other plants in different environments? Or maybe creating hybrids? Depending on what was grown, the school could market the products to help pay for books, computers and other classroom equipment. And Farmer Floyd wouldn't be a joke from the 1960s.

My friends thought I had consumed way too many shots of Jameson Irish Whiskey.

That's because at the time they, nor I, had heard of John Hantz, a former executive at American Express Financial Services. Hantz is trying to take over 40 acres at the Michigan State Fairgrounds in Detroit to create an urban farm. Under Hantz's plan, the farm would not resemble the agriculutral behemoths of the Midwest, although he does someday invision a 1,000 acre tract. Instead, it would be a technological wonder, experimenting with such growing techniques as areoponics -- growing things in air.

According to an April 6 article by Laura Berman in The Detroit News, Hantz would start by growing a variety of lettuce and apples, and possibly Christmas trees. Using areoponics, he would be able to grow crops year round. To some people, particularly those who view argiculture as counter to the urban experience, Hantz's plan might sound absurd. But is it really?

Michigan has a wonderful agricultural tradition. The state is in the top three -- behind Washington and New York -- in growing apples. Bing cherries are a major crop. MSU experimented with Christmas trees in hopes of developing one with a longer shelf life after being cut. So why not experiment with growing food products on vacant land in Detroit? It would be a much nicer sight than empty, weed filled lots.

Working with other cities in the area with large swaths of vacant land, as well as the states numerous universities, Detroit could create the agricultural equivalent of the research triangle. An entire generation of miniority students could be turned on to agricultural research. The city could even go further and develop early-stage programs introducing students to animal husbandry and veterinarian medicine.

Doing so would mean taking "vocational" training to a new level. It also might make Farmer Floyd proud.