Flint and Detroit are two cities located 75 miles apart in southeastern Michigan in the United States. Over the last 20 years, the region has been struggling with the transition from being a major global manufacturing center to an area with a contracting population, severe economic hardship, and the worst unemployment in the country. The economic decline associated with the shrinking US auto industry has left the remaining urban population with a challenging environment: empty factories, contaminated land, abandoned homes, and thinly spread city services. Detroit has 48,000 acres of abandoned land within the city limits—equivalent to 57 times the area of Central Park in New York City!
With the decline of the urban and economic environments, those able to move have left the cities for the surrounding suburbs. This dynamic has created a racially and economically stratified region with a weak tax base for the cities and a vulnerable social system for those left behind in the urban core.
Not surprising, many of the larger social and economic issues are reflected in the regional food and agriculture system. City dwellers living in the so-called “food deserts” have poor access to fresh food, with many families facing food insecurity. This lack has led to increased rates of childhood obesity and type-2 diabetes.
Despite these tough conditions, committed and talented groups of people in the region are delivering real innovation, education, technical assistance, and entrepreneurship in the food and agriculture systems. Many of these people are working on the Metropolitan Agriculture project.
During the initial phase of interviewing and engaging key stakeholders from government, business, and civil society, it became clear that one of the key questions that needed to be addressed was, How can we create a connected and collaborative food system that will serve the needs of all the people in the region? Michigan State University and TransForum kicked off the project by convening a one-day meeting in February 2010 to engage 40 key stakeholders and to assess the energy for working across traditional barriers in the system. These stakeholders included potential large-scale producers (e.g., Hantz Farms and Share), small-scale producers (e.g., Flint River Farm, Edible Flint Network), local government (e.g., Detroit School District, Detroit Department of City Planning, Genesse Land Bank), and civil society organizations (e.g., Greening of Detroit, Gleaners Food Bank). The overwhelming response was that collaboration across sectors and across the region was critical for creating an integrated and equitable food and agricultural system.
A pair of two-day meetings with a total of approximately 70 leaders in total, followed this initial gathering. These events focused on building a shared understanding of current reality and opportunities to collaborate in the building of a regional Metro Ag system. Proposed collaboration opportunities will:
- Include large- and small-scale producers, both inside and outside the urban cores
- Provide local and specialized food to the wealthy suburban markets surrounding the cities
- Provide easy access to fresh and affordable local food within the cities
- Provide fresh, local food for the school meal systems
- Generate food production and processing opportunities that in turn would create employment within the urban areas
- Provide general education and specific vocational training around food production and preparation to a broad community
- Increase food security for the most vulnerable members of the urban communities
- Reduce abandoned land by converting it to food production, biofuel production (if highly contaminated), or recreational space
- Provide incubation for new entrepreneurs and ideas
- Bring technical “know-how” and “know-who” to the system through a knowledge network
- Work on aggregating small-scale production to enable producers to meet the volume and continuity needs of large-scale food processors/buyers
- Support good family food and eating practices
- Work to extend the growing season for producers
The whole of 70 leaders is being brought together in September to synthesize and integrate their thinking and prepare for the global Summit.