Back to the Land
I often joke with Californians that even as their environmental regulations make MI’s main industry defunct (admittedly, largely because of the short sightedness of Michiganders), MI will take over CA’s role as the lead Ag state. CA, after all, is fighting water problems because of its own short-sightedness. We, on the other hand, have got water–lots of it. And MI is already the country’s second most diverse agricultural state. Add a few degrees of temperature due to climate change (ignoring the signs that global warming seems to be making a cold sink stretching from MI to MN), and MI could be downright bountiful.
But there’s a more serious side to it–the post-industrial side. Specifically, the increasingly urgent efforts to turn Detroit back into an agricultural bread basket.
“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.”
[snip]
In Detroit, hundreds of backyard gardens and scores of community gardens have blossomed and helped feed students in at least 40 schools and hundreds of families.
It is the size and scope of Hantz Farms that makes the project unique. Although company officials declined to pinpoint how many acres they might use, they have been quoted as saying that they plan to farm up to 5,000 acres within the Motor City’s limits in the coming years, raising organic lettuces, trees for biofuel and a variety of other things.
Detroit has long been a symbol of America’s industrial might. And yet, quickly, it has become a symbol not only of decay, but of the earth reclaiming the land. Frankly, I’m in favor of using Detroit’s vacant space for farming (though I prefer it to be organic, small scale farming). But if Detroit is the canary in the coal mine of industrial society, we need to start preparing to return to an agricultural way of life.
Photo credit:http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessicareeder/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
What a spectacularly good idea.
Even if not intended as such, it
Is exceeding imaginative urban planning.
Wonder if michele O. Would champion the cause?
Tis part of our overlords’ Neo-feudalist plan.
But I think it’s not gonna be “we farmers farming” so much as it will be “we serfs serfing”.
Great article, ew! –
How much easier it would have been to leave some farmland before all the pollutants of industrialization have made their inroads. Lots of excuses in the article about why it can’t be done immediately……better to just go ahead and *do* it (at least on the smaller scales) and beg forgiveness later.
And btw, totally OT, but Spencer found a real gem wrt “US Intelligence and Afghanistan”:
McChrystal Intelligence Adviser Strongly Criticizes U.S. Intelligence Community
The report (28 page PDF) Spencer references is well worth the entire read!
Thanks for the tip.
Item of interest: the paragraph on page 11 that starts
“To understand the dynamics of this process, it is useful to think of the Afghanistan war as a political campaign, albeit a violent one.”
It then proceeds to give as an example two Florida counties Miami-Dade and
Palm Beach in the 2000 Presidential election.
This to illustrate that “losing even one or two key districts can mean overall defeat.”
And this from page 8:
And the continuation of that paragraph has some brilliance as well:
The concluding paragraph of this report:
“The intelligence community – the brains behind the bullish might of military forces – seems much too mesmerized by the red of the Taliban’s cape. If this does not change, success in Afghanistan will depend on the dubious premise that a bull will not tire as quickly as a Russian bear.”
Anyone else been making this mistake?
Anyone else been making similar mistakes?
This report calls out some serious unaddressed dysfunction.
The responsibility for where this dysfunction originated, and why it has yet to be addressed seems clear, Though Donald,Dick and crew might not
agree.
I left that for discovery, too much to quote all that is of interest.
Wrt to the 2000 Florida fiasco, I thought it was an election, but now start to wonder…
Maddog @4
We have many exceedingly well-trained intellects at the top of our military command structure.
This sounds like an analysis written by a guy who
Has not forgotten Vietnam or Russia in Afghanistan –
Body counts vs hearts-and-minds.
Dick-head Cheney was a leader who loved killing and body counts above understanding culture and tradition.
Turning the cia into a killing machine
is another of Cheney’s legacies and another example of what an inept leader he was.
“We have many exceedingly well-trained intellects at the top of our military command structure…”
And it remains to be seen whether those within the US military with the intellectual brainpower are also capable of commanding to comport with that brainpower.
Great idea that would apply in the Great Lakes industrial belt that stretches from Chicago to Cleveland. My only caution – other than hoping it stays “organic” rather than becomes co-opted by big Ag (which could buy huge chunks of vacant land in a heartbeat) – would be environmental. A lot of lead, no doubt, and other industrial contaminants. Ironically, that would be one reason big Ag might be reluctant to buy those lots. So environmental regs ought to go hand in hand with Ag Dept. stimulus to bring that land back into production.
Yup. I’m trying to figure out how to fund it locally so it won’t go to shit.
i also think they should have used the $500,000 Silver Dome to farm Tilapia, because somehow that would be appropriate.
EW,
In Columbus there is an international community gardening training campus.
There is a great Community garden training program as well. Many vacant lots get converted to community gardens for harvests to go to food pantries. The front of the lots received beautification plantings while the remaining lot is developed into food crops.
And here is a program I participated in for our neighborhood.
If you would ever like to visit the community garden training campus, please let me know. I know the director.
But, but, but … that would involve going to Columbus!!!
It was bad enough rooting for OSU in the Rose Bowl, but actually going to Columbus?!?!?!?
No, enjoy yer parting gift for rooting for three yards and a cloud of dust; i.e. a fun filled trip to Columbus!
Stiff upper lip EW!
The locals are fearsome, but kindly if you’re not wearing obvious Spartan threads.
When I visited years ago, they let me leave without a bribe. Can’t say that about some other places I could name. *g*
Awe come on. I’ll even send you a gas card to cover the travel expense, treat you to your choice of Thurman’s (Man vs Food), North Star (all organic), Banana Bean Cafe or City Barbeque and the next time I am in Ann Arbor (I do visit a close friend there), I’ll treat you to Zingerman’s.
“It was bad enough rooting for OSU in the Rose Bowl.”
I loved reading that line.
If EW doesn’t take you up, can anybody else volunteer? *g*
You rally up a whole bunch of FDLers and I’ll arrange a field trip.
But the perks only go for the boss!
Well, now that you put it like htat, I am due a trip to Cinci.
Do NOT accept any sweater vest gifts. I am warning you!
What? Someone told me you have the perfect build for a sweater vest.
People lie; suckers born every minute and all that….
In some cultures you must decline someone’s generosity three times.
Even suckers!
(And EW I am so sorry that I linked to an AP article in the last post. My bad.)
Dare I ask what that “perfect build” might be?
36-36-36?
About turning Detroit into a wonderful green, in a special way, city
– govt funded (stimulus funds?) co-operatives providing seed, fertilizer, tools, water, and knowledge how to use these.
-in the great tobaco wars the tobacco farmers were, uh hmm,
Small potatos, but they did get a little money set
Aside from the 00’s of billions to
Help them learn new ways to replace
Tobacco money in their family income.
Intensive cropping in small spaces, E.g., broccoli, asparagus, green onions, sun chokes, etc.
– food for restaurants and chefs like alive waters and Thomas Keller.
–
it’s a trap
ask bmaz about the “red sweater vest” conspiracy
I’m pretty sure you’ll be asked to deliver a package
it all fits …
(wink)
Damn you freep!
Why did you have to be so good at connecting the dots?
!!!
And I link to this source often. This is a great resource for information and networking irt community gardening. Meet the ACGA.
It would be great if small organic farm plots could get off the ground quickly, before big Ag is able to co-opt the Michigan legislature and inspection system as much as it has in California (though I’m sure they are already well-established there). As renowned as CA is for its fruit, vegetables and organic produce, whatever big Ag wants, big A gets, from light inspections to lighter fines and penalties.
Smaller, separated plots would also make it easier to avoid the risks associated with mono-culture that plague CA and the Midwest. You can drive for miles and see only a single crop, grown from seeds from the same lab. One successful pest and boy, have you got trouble in River City.
Scary true.
(And I’m still shivering from Sara’s description of MPLS. It’s making my endless rain this week look just so much nicer…)
Not only that, but the Big Ag seed companies prevent you from saving any seed for the next crop, because they want to make you buy your seed from them every year. Diversity is better.
Bob in AZ
Maddog @8
Indeed!
Though
My emphasis was on a high
Level of training, not intellect.
The u.s. Military has had 40 years to rue their approach to Vietnam.
Counterinsurgency was an obsession, and rightly
So, for Years.
I’m glad to see a military analysis harken back
To those hard lessons,
All the more when the emphasis these last eight
Years has been too much on “smart” bombs, predator drones, torture, and counterinsurgency assassinations –
All examples of belief in magical solutions to deadly conflict.
It used to be that the purpose of military force was (a) conquest, or (b) defense. We deny conquest as our motive, and nobody believes the defense argument. President Bush used to speak with utter disparagement about the “killers” who flew the planes into the WTC, but that is exactly what he has turned our Military Services into: Killers. Our Armed forces and their contractors have killed more civilians than all the terrorists in the world combined. Instead of being renowned the world over for being an exemplar of democracy, we have become known as a nation of killers.
Doesn’t that make you feel proud of our great country?
Bob in AZ
Oh, sweet!!!!!!!!
This is definitely one of my most all-time fun links evah!!
Please note, we out here in the West have an online Organic Agriculture Certificate that might assist you! Indeed, our soil and growing conditions are not identical to yours (you don’t have our good volcanic soils).
Nevertheless, I would invite any EWers to peruse the offerings of Washington State University’s Agriculture Dept — many courses are offered online for your convenience and no doubt there are programs that would assist those in the Midwest.
Oh, I am doing a happy dance here in Pugetopolis*** as I leave you all with this great link ;-)))
GO COUGS!!!!!!!!!
*** Pugetopolis is on the West side of the state; Wazzu (WSU) is on the East side. But more people eat on the West side, which has the larger population.
Oregon has a certificate that’s apparently respected, too.
Not that CA doesn’t have organic farming – there are a lot of smaller farms; they’re the ones that go to the farmers’ markets with the stuff you never see in stores. (orange muscat grapes – that’s a treat!)
Also, in CA, there are nurseries (landscaping stuff, mostly) under powerlines. Why waste the space?
Well, I’m more familiar with their Ag Econ (out of Corvallis*), but confess I’ve only the merest glancing familiarity.
Not sure about the Univ of California at Eugene.
They had Prefontaine, but no geoducks, poor beggars ;-))
And The Evergreen State College has programs in sustainability and organic farming. Here’s one link, of many…
Gooooooo Geoducks!!
“Good volcanic soils” indeed. Got any suggestions as to how to get the rocks out of glacial tilth? I’d love to hear them. I gave up a couple of years ago and am now going to put in raised beds this year instead. Too many rocks! I believe I may be west of you in Pugetopolis. We avoid most of the pyroclastics and lahars over here, but not the rock-throwing that Tahoma likes to engage in periodically (rocks have been found as far away as the Dungeness Spit). We have glacial tilth, not the good volcanic soils you can boast, but (despite the rocks) our soils are pretty good nonetheless.
About the only thing that won’t grow here is citrus.
I say, who says “Go West Young Man”? And why would they say that? (Hint: “Got ADHD?”)
Who Said, “Go West, Young Man” – Quote Detective Debunks Myths
So all the restless legs march to the West and Lo and Behold
Legalized medical marijuana: higher in West (10 states out of 15 total)
So now it’s off to Hawaii or just take Ritalin?
Or maybe the antidote can be produced organically, where state law permits.
Farming in Michigan may be just the thing! Suggestion: legalize Hemp production and get phytoremediation as a bonus:
Remediation of Benzo[a]pyrene and Chrysene-Contaminated Soil with Industrial Hemp (Cannabis sativa)
Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) growing on heavy metal contaminated soil: fibre quality and phytoremediation potential
So why not let nature teach us how?
[Sounds like a tad too high yield in that last stat]
Hey, it is going to be 20 or so below zero tonight in Minneapolis, and that is without the wind-chill factor. I am considering becoming a climate change sceptic. In the meantime, time for another layer and a thicker sweater.
This year I carefully collected a shopping bag of acorns (real ones, not video tape types) from my 5 story tall Oak Trees, and handed them off to a youth project that is trying to extend the oak hardwood zone about 75 miles north of the current line. They are mixing the oak in with maple, and a few other hardwood types and seeding Nature Conservancy land — tiz a long term plan. Squirrels none too happy about my charity. Detroit would also be wise to re-forest itself. Even if Industry does re-grow, now is the time to plant urban forests, and declare land for parks.
Now there’s an idea. I’ve got five mature oaks on my property, and the squirrels decided they liked the varietal of corn I planted this year (?), so since they stole my corn I wouldn’t feel that bad stealing a few of the acorns for Detroit.
are ya sure ya got the right squirrels ???
we got raccoons, but ya can never identify em, cuz they all wear masks
(dodging the fruit)
jes make sure ya plant the same kind of corn again this spring …
I’ll be here all week, please don’t feed the waiter
Pretty sure I saw the actual squirrels eating the actual corn.
The raccoons prefer the cherry tree, such that a couple of weeks in late spring I got the damn things dancing on my roof.
More than one raccoon arguing over ripe cherries makes a lot of noise.
Usually at 0 dark thirty?
Pretty much the middle of the night. I might be able to sleep through that. But sleeping through McCaffrey the MilleniaLab’s barking at them? Nuh uh.
Walnuts in the fall: we had one picking over those that were laid out to dry on our covered patio. (The cat was even less happy about the visitor. Good thing she was inside: I think she would have tried taking it on.)
Sguirrels used to dig in my window boxes and pull my radishes. They’d snip the greens off, take one bite, decide they didn’t like the flavor, then try to bury them, just like they’d do with a really tannic acorn.
And they’d go to work on the tomatoes, too. Take a bite or two out of each.
Hey, it is going to be 20 or so below zero tonight in Minneapolis, and that is without the wind-chill factor. I am considering becoming a climate change sceptic.
My story is we’ve had a lot of volcanic ash this year, and I’m sticking to it.
with regard to Cali, and our agricultural woes ???
I’m one of them damned dfh Smelt huggers
ya gotta decide between rich corporate farmers or a small native fish
the fish wins on personality, intelligence, and hygiene
and unlike rich corporate farmers, the smelt actually produce food
Also food for bigger fish! (Sportfishing brings in money and is less harmful than big ag with its spray-everything practices.)
I once saw a baby sturgeon in a creek in Concord. It wasn’t any cuter than a grown one.
I seen em full sized, and ya gotta ask yerself, “who the hell eats something that fricken UGLY”
California’s water woes are more about money and politics than about actual need. no “person” is going without water. Some farmers can’t grow cotton and feed corn, and we gotta live with their whining
the good news is that we jes got a series of good wet storms, so the apocalyptic predictions about our agricultural demise might be slightly exaggerated
Let hope so. We are at 99% of normal at the moment, but we need lots more to get us up to our 20″/year. Fingers crossed.
I generally check the ski reports for that kind of information. (Why not? That’s where the water will be coming from.)
Good idea. And it works, so long as we don’t have too much late rain to wash it all away. Do you know where to get snow depth reports? I can’t find any (and I do dig teh google).
ski reports: sports pages. usually.
and @ 65. Thanks and thanks. And I do so love those measurements.
I have to ask myself: do we really need all of that land devoted to irrigated corn and cotton? Wouldn’t it be better to grow that stuff where there’s naturally more water? Because both of those are high usage for water, fertilizer, weed killers, and insecticides. But especially water ….
This cannot be true. San Diego can exist only by stealing water from AZ. Once the people in AZ with water rights start to decide to use the water themselves rather than selling it at below-market prices to California, well, its enough in some places to start a war.
Bob in AZ
and freep @ 47
(to the tune of “Reuben, Reuben”)
Caviar comes from the virgin sturgeon
The virgin sturgeon’s a very fine fish
The virgin sturgeon needs no urgin’
That’s why caviar is my dish.
Sorry. Couldn’t help m’self, and the coffee isn’t ready yet.
Sorry for all the OT on this post.
I have something to say which is On Topic, but some time ago I noticed this:
Under The Seminal: About Us: FAQ’s
What are The Seminal’s rules?…
#5 third bullet is
“At the moment please do not use AP sources AT ALL.”
I saw this a while ago, does this apply to Emptywheel, or FDL as a whole?
I try to avoid this as a general rule , but in this case there is some pertinent content which would otherwise be used.
Can you get that content without using AP?
Not really, they actually had some real reporting done, even though someone else paid at least part of the bill for it.
Part of the story is also what various users of the content deleted (print half the story and get a different story!).
So actually alternate source the facts generally: yes. Point out the distortion in what users published: no.
I’m a little more relaxed about AP rules than other parts of the site (mostly bc I’ve got some examples where they stole from us). But mostly it’s an attempt to avoid using their worthless content and in the process pissing off their lawyers.
Rather than throw something up using AP I’ll spend some more time to not use them in any way Wrt to the facts that they reported.
They didn’t really discover anything, just aggregated facts, but did some reporting to do it.
I’ll have it for the next time you bring this topic around.
Oh, EW, you would SO love The Maui News: nothing but day-old AP stories & local sports.
closest I’ve ever been to that
(wink)
Ha ha ha ha ha. Git out!
O/T, do we dare hope?
Judge may cite failed Blackwater prosecutors for ‘misconduct’
(Plus, not only is it speculative, but it’s from the AP, a source I just learned that is pretty much taboo here. So, exercise caution.)
Link.
People should not worry about AP; just be brief in the length of any quote you pull. If they want to screw with us beyond that then we’ll deal with that stupidity.
Thanks for that info.
There is a thing called a compost sock (nylon fabric stuffed with good nuitritious stuff made from Fall leaves) that makes a wonderful surround for raised beds. They are effective over poor soil.
Late drive-by because I’ve been spending time with my wife’s family for dinner and then watching Avatar–
EW, your diary is so cool! My brother’s family in Romeo (an hour north of Detroit) has had a productive garden for years.
Who knew that prices for city land would fall so far that it would become valuable as farmland again?
And why not export this idea to New Orleans? I hear they’ve got a lot of vacant city land there, too! And like you, they too have lots of water.
Now to read the comments!
Bob in AZ
OT
This is not a surprise.
Thanks IMF…
Nobody has mentioned vertical farming. Given that Michigan is surrounded by the largest source of fresh water in the world, using abandoned buildings as farms makes good sense.
Links:
Scientific American
Time
General overview (Biased, but informative)
Boxturtle (Grow where the water is)
I quite like the idea of green roofs in densely built city centres — old industrial buildings with flat tops were just made for them, I think. When I was younger and trendier and a loft still meant an actual unimproved space in an old building, I thought about doing that, and if some of that kind of space is opening up again, it would be good to see people use it productively.
O/T Did CIA order Blackwater to kill?
O/T again. EW, what’s up with this story about Cherry?
It’s totally fucked up. Cherry would make a good governor, but he has zero charisma. The national powers that be have been unhappy about him as a candidate for some time (hint: the quickest way to have seen him win the gubernatorial would have been if Granholm had been appointed to a cabinet position or the Circuit court). THe two declared big candidates (Bernero and Dillon) are very conservative. There are hints of a third–I’m wondering if they’re shifting Peters out of the House into the gubernatorial?–and damn I hope so.
It’s fucked up.
Thanks so much for responding. Oh, that’s bad! Sounds like the Dems there are doing about as good a job as they did here during the last gubernatorial election. They blew it, big time. And we ended up with Ahhhhhhhnold again, and a broken state (in more ways than one). I do hope you folks in Michigan can turn your wrong-way train around–and quickly.
One possibility is for regional or state co-ops to buy up inner city brownfield sites, many of them and aggregate them, for specific agricultural purposes, the way the English create garden allotments. A single brownfield garden might have limited impact. Five hundred or a thousand each in Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Akron, Canton, Toledo, Erie might start trends and have a real impact. How about a little contest, to find brownfield sites from Boston to Chicago on old US Route 20?
EW,
Another route is to grow switch grass for biofuel.
As for brownfield gardening. Brownfields are not cleaned up to agricultural standards. You would need soil standards up to ten feet deep for most agricultural use. Brownfields are usually to industrial or residential standards.
You can set clean up standards by individual crop depending on uptake but that is quite an evolution in the Brownfield management program. But the mechanisms are not in place to monitor such standards for ag.
Bio-fuels might be a good initial use, enough to get coops off the ground and reusing vital spaces. Use could change over time as ways to clean up sites are improved or made more available – or worth doing.
What’s the story on Rahma & Bahma ignoring Granholm? Does she fall into the Dawn Johnsen end of the spectrum? Was she not loyal enough or did she not raise enough money.
I suspect Rahm has picked up from Karl Rove more than his smash and grab ways and politicization of the most routine acts of government. I think he’s decided that destructive personality cults, however short term their benefits, are the ticket to his future and his being called “irreplaceable”.
Will he try to make personal loyalty tests a permanent feature of the Democratic Party, too? If so, its critics will have to rebrand it. “Demos”, the people, no longer belongs as part of its name. How about the Cratic Party? Sounds good to me.
Are the Cratics gonna crater in 2010, 2012?
It does have a ring to it, doesn’t it?
My brother’s wife in Michigan responded to EW’s diary with this:
“This guy has been receiving a lot of press, but there was also a big story recently about an African-American woman whiz kid-type (forget her name, but she got a MacArthur “genius” grant a few years ago) who has spear-headed a successful network of organic urban farms in New York City (the Bronx?); she’s interested in taking on Detroit next, and her approach sounds much more people-empowering.”
Anyone know who the NY woman is?
Bob in AZ
Currently in CA
Here’s a story about this woman, but there’s also a Will Allen who seems a more likely candidate. He’s mentioned in the article. Am I getting warm?
Yes, you are certainly getting warm.
Here’s an urban farming website.
Maybe my brother’s wife was referring to this, as you suggest– NYT article about Wisconsin farmer Will Allen.
Bob in AZ
There’s always this for The Good Life, then again, I’m partial to Felicity Kendal.
Planting tree farms (Oaks, Maples, Walnuts, etc.,) requires considerable legal protection, since a mature hardwood tree is at least 50 years old, many are good for much more than a hundred years. You have to do projects where you legally can protect the land use for that long. I call attention to Nature Conservancy, because they actually buy the land, and put it into permanent conservation, but at the same time they are not opposed to eventual harvesting (not clear cutting) for proper use of quality hardwood. Once established, a tree farm doesn’t require constant weeding and care — moreover it gives the squirrels and coons a good safe place to live. In Urban areas, you don’t have to worry all that much about the pollution in the soils, given a hundred years of tree growing most of the toxic material dissipates, and one doesn’t eat the trees.
Cities such as Cleveland, Detroit, etc., should consider setting aside appropriate contiguious blocks for eventual urban forests (legally protect them), and in the meantime they can put playgrounds in and around them so as to give them a temporary use. And of course forests lock up carbon on a long term basis — another long range thinking value.
Tiz +5 degrees above zero at 1:45 PM. Now that is Global Warming!!!
make sure you got PERMANENT protection
in Cali, protecting existing groves of oaks is a big project. We have a State program that provides property tax cuts in return for guaranteeing the land stays undeveloped
turned out, the program wasn’t permanent. It allowed the sale of the land, and withdrawal from the program. We lost a grove of ancient oaks out of pure spite. when the court cases were settled, the owner couldn’t develop the land like he wanted, but he had already cut the trees and deep plowed the land. I’m not sure how the final financial settlement went, but the trees are gone
make sure the rules provide specific penalties for withdrawal from the project
learn from our mistakes
I don’t know if I ever hugged a tree, but I like trees more than I like repuglitards …
“make sure you got PERMANENT protection
in Cali, protecting existing groves of oaks is a big project. We have a State program that provides property tax cuts in return for guaranteeing the land stays undeveloped”
Yea, that seems to be the point of Nature Conservancy — it is a non-profit foundation that takes ownership, and its charter is all about permenant conservancy. It is somewhat in between the National Parks and the National Forests — the Forests comprehend themselves as a “crop” that can be harvested (sold by the Dept of Agriculture) when the crop is mature, and then re-planted, and the National Park is purely preservation and natural death and re-seeding. The Conservancy allows for limited harvesting of individual trees but also requires replacement with the basic idea of extending permanent forests, and preserving bio-diversity. Because it is a private foundation, it is rather unlikely a change in state tax law or zoning would change the status of Conservancy lands. As a foundation they maintain an endowment for their lands, which generates funds for needed tree care. Nature Conservancy appeals to a number of wealthy types who give major donations on their death — both land and endowment funds.
Fatster,
We were wrong. My brother’s wife was referring to Majora Carter. I have to give the url the old fashioned way because my browser is hung up finishing loading this page:
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/freep/access/1928234071.html?dids=1928234071:1928234071&FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&fmac=2639ef4c81cbd73fbc1d24a59bab0fbb&date=Dec+26%2C+2009&author=JOHN+GALLAGHER&desc=Activist+sows+seeds+for+farm+co-op
Bob in AZ
Glad you found it. Wonderful that there are so many involved in this movement, that we had some great choices!
Sharon Astyk in a recent post Who Will Grow Your Food (Part 1): The Coming Demographic Crisis in Agriculture estimates that given constraints on petroleum and gas the USA will need 100 million new farmers in the not so distance future. She points out that many will be gardeners and market growers, but we still need millions of new farmers. People may quibble about her presumptions, they seen right to me, but in any case we need to find ways to train many more people in the art and science of growing things. Michigan could be a light unto the rest of the country. My sense is that government will only step up to the plate after serious grass roots engagement in this issue.
From Ryan Avent:
Also, in this Richard Florida post, commenter Global Urbanist @ 5 has some ideas from a Michigan-Ontario comparison that strike me as worthy of thought. The subject is in the air these days.