Good people doing it right again!!!!
"What's going on is quite a phenomenon,' said Kami Pothukuchi, a Wayne State University professor specializing in urban planning and food systems. 'You have a community that needs access to fresh food, and you have open land. The two are coming together.'
The number of community and family gardens and individuals raising crops for sale in the city has jumped from 80 in 2004 to 302 in 2006, according to The Greening of Detroit, a nonprofit group that creates public gardens and plants trees.
The total is projected to jump another 25 percent this year.
'The economy is ideal for this,' said Michael Score, who works for the Michigan State University Extension Service, which finds ways to bring crops to market.
The downturn in Michigan's job market -- the city of Detroit has an unemployment rate of about 15 percent -- means people are looking to eat affordably and to generate income, he said.
Detroit provides a perfect setting for urban gardening.
In a city of roughly 880,000 people, there are just two large-scale grocery stores. Because public transportation is not always convenient, and an estimated 37 percent of residents live below the federal poverty threshold, most people shop at small independent stores that charge more and are more likely to have a meager produce selection."
No comments:
Post a Comment