Plans are underway to create the world’s largest urban farm in Detroit.

The parents of a dream.
Jimmy and Grace Lee Boggs may be the folks to thank for the urban movement in Detroit that plans to use abandoned and vacant property to create the largest urban farm in the world.  The two have been local activists and civic leaders for years and in 1992 founded Detroit Summer, a collective of citizens motivated to transform and reclaim their communities.
Every year for the past eleven summers Detroit Summer took people on tours of the city to visit centers and areas where local residents were farming in some of the most unlikely of environments.  And they were farming successfully, producing food, cleaning up neighborhoods, and, in turn, lowering crime and littering rates.  These have only been some of the many benefits that the plan has provided.

More benefits than just fresh food.
Some communities have been virtually transformed in that period of time and residents say they feel a much closer connection to a nature that they rarely knew before the project came along.
To date more than 350 urban gardens have been planted in and around the city, and all of them actively encourage anyone with a healthy curiosity to visit and learn about techniques that were used to make them a success.  

Big plans for the city’s future.
And the largest future farm of them all, Hantz Farm, is in the preliminary development stages, with Phase 1planning to utilize more than 70 acres of vacant and abandoned land on Detroit’s lower east side.
The project, which will help meet Michigan’s growing demand for local produce, plans to turn out organic fresh fruits and vegetables in addition to adding a much-needed natural beauty to that part of the city.
Thanks in part to Michigan State University and in cooperation with the WK Kellogg foundation, planning for Hantz Farm has included detailed examination of soil requirements and potential agricultural output.  
In addition, the farm also plans to use the heat generated by composting waste to produce geothermal energy and build several large turbines to harness wind energy as well.  All of these factors are helping to bring a new meaning to the term urban renewal and providing myriad benefits to these forgotten areas of a city in need of change.

-This post was contributed by Claire Webber, who writes about the best online schools. She welcomes your feedback at Claire.Webber1223 at gmail.com