“Leader in urban agriculture” is not a typical descriptor for Detroit.  Birthplace of Motown, yes, nerve center of the American automobile industry, absolutely, but socially acceptable food exporter?  Are we still talking about the same city?

In an exciting attempt to redefine the city, Michigan State University and the city of Detroit have teamed up to make Michigan’s capital a model of urban agriculture.  Memorialized in a memorandum of understanding, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon agreed to work towards several goals including sparking innovations in the development of clean urban food, water, and energy systems, and using Detroit’s once depressingly large supply of vacant and abandoned lots and buildings for new economic development.

Dr. Richard Foster, of the university’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and co-director of the program, stressed the importance of building a system that is “socially acceptable and creates an abundance of food.”  According to Dr. Foster, “If it’s socially acceptable, it means that racial justice issues we face in this state [and city] are actually considered. It means economic and wealth distribution will have to be considered.”

While the memorandum did not include financial obligations for either party, MSU has announced that it will dedicate $1.5 million to the project, entitled MetroFoodPlus Innovation Cluster @ Detroit.  As the memorandum also states that the city and the university agree to continue fundraising for the project, the $1.5 million is unlikely to cover the tab of this ambitious project in its own.

How exactly MetroFoodPlus will embark on meeting the goals laid out is still undecided, but MSU intends to incorporate the input of local urban gardening organizations into its final plans.  Members of Greening Detroit, Easter Market Corporation, Detroit Food Policy Council, RecoveryPark urban farm project and Hantz Farms have been invited to meetings to be held in the coming week.

Recent reports show Detroit’s poverty rate at 32.3% and Michigan’s obesity rate at 30.5%, meaning this project has the potential to be impactful on multiple fronts.

Image of Downtown Detroit via Fotopedia