Plan, Awareness, & Practices
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Largest Urban Farm Plan Preliminary plans for a new large scale urban farm within the Detroit city limits are calling for using vacant land and abandoned property to create the world's largest urban farm, raising questions about health and practicality. n a statement, financier John R. Hantz, CEO of Hantz Farms, said his planned operation would "transform this area into a viable, beautiful and sustainable area that will serve the community, increase the tax base, create jobs and greatly improve the quality of life in an area that has experienced a severe decline in population." Phase 1 of the Hantz plan calls for redeveloping more than 70 acres of underutilized vacant lands and abandoned properties on Detroit's lower east side, relocating some residents, demolishing structures at the company's own expense and expanding into other clusters of the city over time. Hantz Farms plans to grow fruits and vegetables for local consumption. In addition to food and trees, Hantz Farms says it plans to harvest wind energy and use geothermal heat and biomass fuel from recycling compost. The amount of vacant and abandoned land in Detroit would roughly add up to the size of the city of San Francisco, according to estimates. The company is working with Michigan State University (MSU) for its expertise on agricultural and soil sciences, at the same time as consulting with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, a U.S. leader in community-based food systems. It makes great sense to utilize the blighted and abandoned land in the city to produce fresh, nutritious food for local consumers," said Rick Foster, vice president for programs at the Kellogg Foundation. "Urban development projects like this one not only create good food and connection to nature, but serve as an economic development anchor for others in the community." MSU's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources said it has been advising Hantz Farms, along with the MSU's Michigan Agriculture Experiment Station and MSU Extension, which are also contributing to the company's proposal. Local residents appear largely, but not uniformly, supportive. Some asked difficult questions today in an online chat with Matt Allen, Senior Vice President of Hantz Farms—and former broadcaster and press secretary for the City of Detroit. The chat, hosted by the Detroit Free Press, included questions about containment of farming chemicals, to which Allen offered, "[MSU is] using our farm as a research site and will be doing all sorts of environmental testing." Allen acknowledged the farm would be a conventional one, which means the use of fertilizers and other chemicals. "Organic is out for the moment. It takes 3 years to get certified and so we are going to focus on conventional ag[riculture] methods." Other questions were raised about soil remediation from previous industrial uses, and how easy it would be to convince buyers that produce would be safe to eat. "There has been a lot of consideration in this area and what we found out through MSU is that there has been a lot of growing in several of the areas we have been looking at for a while," said Allen. "In our working partnership with MSU and the soil sciences experts we have been told that the soil is very good. Most of the areas are housing and were farms before that, so we are coming full circle." Security of the farm was also a concern, to which Allen responded, "if a few pumpkin smashers happen to get me once every few years, or a stolen apple or two isnt going to be of great concern. But we have a plan to secure the areas and it will be adjusted on needs." Once the project is approved by Detroit city officials, work would begin immediately and the farm would be operating within six months, the company said. To suggestions that there are other similar farms in Europe, Allen said the Hantz project will be unique in its size. "There are examples, but nothing on our scale, not even close. We will be the leader and the best example for urban ag.," he told the Free Press chat. Hantz Farms founder John Hantz is the CEO of Hantz Group, Inc., a financial company in Southfield, Michigan with more than 550 employees and 23 offices in Michigan and Ohio. Resolving Farm Practices Complaints The Farm Practices Protection (Right to Farm) Act was enacted to protect a farmer’s right to farm in B.C., and sets out the means of resolving concerns and complaints about farm practices associated with dust, odour, noise or other disturbances. The processes in place are intended to resolve concerns in order to let farmers farm, keep people out of court, deal fairly with people’s concerns and complaints and deal with poor farm practices when they might occur. While by far the majority of farm practices issues are resolved without entering into a formal complaint process, the B.C. Farm Industry Review Board does have a mandate to hear complaints from persons who feel aggrieved by nuisances arising from farms. We have strengthened the Act to ensure that provisions are in place for follow-up enforcement of complaint decisions. To help minimize disputes between landowners, we will also institute measures to provide for disclosure of information regarding farm practices when land is being purchased next to agricultural land. Environmental awareness Urban agriculture can also change the perception of people in cities regarding food. The direct experience of growing food is largely absent in urban life in the “developed” countries; people harvest at the supermarket and most people have come to expect food to be packaged and even pre-cooked. As city people, they are hardly aware of the impacts of food consumption on the fertility of farmland supplying them, often from distant places. Too many people eat unhealthy “junk” food. The recognition of urban agriculture among citizens is related to the size of production activities in this sector within the city (Barrs 1997). People will often have more interest in the food-growing process and the biophysical processes involved when crops are locally cultivated. Their knowledge can be expanded through agricultural and environmental training and education. This could increase the influence citizens have over the way food is produced. People will understand what sort of inputs are used in the farming process and they can quickly respond to any harmful environmental practices. Urban agriculture can re-educate us about the ecological base of food, and the links of food production to natural food chains, as well. Skills associated with urban food growing and related enterprises are not necessarily simple or primitive. Organic growing techniques, for example, can make use of the results of innovative scientific research. If any of the produce is sold – processed or not – then the people involved will develop a whole range of sales and marketing skills of varying degrees of sophistication. And food growing is adaptable to nearly everybody’s circumstances; from a window box to several acres, from conventional gardening to full-scale organic, from a few herbs and a tomato plant to bees, chickens and goats. Thematic Paper 2 Urban Agriculture and Sustainable Cities 55 A good example of growing environmental awareness among citizens can be found in London, where local councils promote urban food growing through Local Agenda 21 strategies in almost all boroughs. There are various community projects aiming to improve the environmental performance of urban agriculture.

Plan, Awareness, & Practices

Largest Urban Farm Plan Preliminary plans for a new large scale urban farm within the Detroit city limits are calling for using vacant land and abandoned property to create the world's largest urban farm, raising questions about health and practicality. n a statement, financier John R. Hantz, CEO of Hantz Farms, said his planned operation would "transform this area into a viable, beautiful and sustainable area that will serve the community, increase the tax base, create jobs and greatly improve the quality of life in an area that has experienced a severe decline in population."

Phase 1 of the Hantz plan calls for redeveloping more than 70 acres of underutilized vacant lands and abandoned properties on Detroit's lower east side, relocating some residents, demolishing structures at the company's own expense and expanding into other clusters of the city over time.

Hantz Farms plans to grow fruits and vegetables for local consumption. In addition to food and trees, Hantz Farms says it plans to harvest wind energy and use geothermal heat and biomass fuel from recycling compost.

The amount of vacant and abandoned land in Detroit would roughly add up to the size of the city of San Francisco, according to estimates.

The company is working with Michigan State University (MSU) for its expertise on agricultural and soil sciences, at the same time as consulting with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, a U.S. leader in community-based food systems.

It makes great sense to utilize the blighted and abandoned land in the city to produce fresh, nutritious food for local consumers," said Rick Foster, vice president for programs at the Kellogg Foundation.

"Urban development projects like this one not only create good food and connection to nature, but serve as an economic development anchor for others in the community."

MSU's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources said it has been advising Hantz Farms, along with the MSU's Michigan Agriculture Experiment Station and MSU Extension, which are also contributing to the company's proposal.

Local residents appear largely, but not uniformly, supportive. Some asked difficult questions today in an online chat with Matt Allen, Senior Vice President of Hantz Farms—and former broadcaster and press secretary for the City of Detroit.

The chat, hosted by the Detroit Free Press, included questions about containment of farming chemicals, to which Allen offered, "[MSU is] using our farm as a research site and will be doing all sorts of environmental testing."

Allen acknowledged the farm would be a conventional one, which means the use of fertilizers and other chemicals. "Organic is out for the moment. It takes 3 years to get certified and so we are going to focus on conventional ag[riculture] methods."

Other questions were raised about soil remediation from previous industrial uses, and how easy it would be to convince buyers that produce would be safe to eat.

"There has been a lot of consideration in this area and what we found out through MSU is that there has been a lot of growing in several of the areas we have been looking at for a while," said Allen.

"In our working partnership with MSU and the soil sciences experts we have been told that the soil is very good. Most of the areas are housing and were farms before that, so we are coming full circle."

Security of the farm was also a concern, to which Allen responded, "if a few pumpkin smashers happen to get me once every few years, or a stolen apple or two isnt going to be of great concern. But we have a plan to secure the areas and it will be adjusted on needs."

Once the project is approved by Detroit city officials, work would begin immediately and the farm would be operating within six months, the company said.

To suggestions that there are other similar farms in Europe, Allen said the Hantz project will be unique in its size.

"There are examples, but nothing on our scale, not even close. We will be the leader and the best example for urban ag.," he told the Free Press chat.

Hantz Farms founder John Hantz is the CEO of Hantz Group, Inc., a financial company in Southfield, Michigan with more than 550 employees and 23 offices in Michigan and Ohio.

Resolving Farm Practices Complaints The Farm Practices Protection (Right to Farm) Act was enacted to protect a farmer’s right to farm in B.C., and sets out the means of resolving concerns and complaints about farm practices associated with dust, odour, noise or other disturbances. The processes in place are intended to resolve concerns in order to let farmers farm, keep people out of court, deal fairly with people’s concerns and complaints and deal with poor farm practices when they might occur.

While by far the majority of farm practices issues are resolved without entering into a formal complaint process, the B.C. Farm Industry Review Board does have a mandate to hear complaints from persons who feel aggrieved by nuisances arising from farms. We have strengthened the Act to ensure that provisions are in place for follow-up enforcement of complaint decisions. To help minimize disputes between landowners, we will also institute measures to provide for disclosure of information regarding farm practices when land is being purchased next to agricultural land.

Environmental awareness Urban agriculture can also change the perception of people in cities regarding food. The direct experience of growing food is largely absent in urban life in the “developed” countries; people harvest at the supermarket and most people have come to expect food to be packaged and even pre-cooked. As city people, they are hardly aware of the impacts of food consumption on the fertility of farmland supplying them, often from distant places. Too many people eat unhealthy “junk” food. The recognition of urban agriculture among citizens is related to the size of production activities in this sector within the city (Barrs 1997). People will often have more interest in the food-growing process and the biophysical

processes involved when crops are locally cultivated. Their knowledge can be expanded through agricultural and environmental training and education. This could increase the influence citizens have over the way food is produced. People will understand what sort of inputs are used in the farming process and they can quickly respond to any harmful environmental practices. Urban agriculture can re-educate us about the ecological base of food, and the links of food production to natural food chains, as well. Skills associated with urban food growing and related enterprises are not necessarily simple or primitive. Organic growing techniques, for example, can

make use of the results of innovative scientific research. If any of the produce is sold – processed or not – then the people involved will develop a whole range of sales and marketing skills of varying degrees of sophistication. And food growing is adaptable to nearly everybody’s circumstances; from a window box to several acres, from conventional gardening to full-scale organic, from a few herbs and a tomato plant to bees, chickens and goats. Thematic Paper 2 Urban Agriculture and Sustainable Cities 55 A good example of growing environmental awareness among citizens can be found in London, where local councils promote urban food growing through Local Agenda 21 strategies in almost all boroughs. There are various community projects aiming to improve the environmental performance of urban agriculture.