In an unusual yet stimulating proposition, The L.A Times recently covered an interesting tale of Hantz Farms buying abandoned properties in the city of Detroit with the plans of turning these plots into large scale commercial agriculture use.
Officials at Hantz Farms imagine the current trend of local food consumption must continue to grow in order to make this venture a successful investment. The idea has also gathered some support due to the hope that it might help in revitalizing the city which was hit terribly hard by the economic crisis with an almost 50% of the population either unemployed or underemployed.
In addition, aesthetically this would also allow for the redevelopment of the over one-third of the city’s 376,000 either vacant or abandoned parcels while supplying an alternative to the idea of Vertical Farms, which has yet to date neither supportive nor contradictory data for the theory.
However, no endeavour is lack of hurdles – the city must rethink its zoning laws, make plans in case of soil contamination, propertax mundanes and answer the question of who would bare the cost of parcel preperation.
Illustration: cuellar