Motown to Growtown: Detroit's Urban Farming Revolution | REWIND
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- Опубликовано: 19 окт 2019
- Rising from the ashes of decades of urban decay, the US city of Detroit is fast becoming an urban farming capital.
Many residents are now producing organic food locally - reducing the environmental footprint of their food by cutting down on carbon emissions from transport and on chemical inputs.
They are also helping revive communities as new green spaces and farmer's markets crop up, providing neighbourhoods with fresh fruits and vegetables.
Plots of land range from backyards, to seven-acre (2.8 hectares) community farms, to plans for large-scale commercial farms.
In 2012, Al Jazeera met the local residents at the centre of the city's urban farming revolution. Several years on, Rewind returns to visit them to see how the movement has progressed.
70-year-old Edith Floyd, an urban farming veteran, has expanded her farm from nine lots to 32 and has added a large hoop house, where she can grow fruits and vegetables year-round.
"We have broccoli, collards, green peppers and celery," she explains.
She says she plans to keep on farming for years to come: "If you don't work, you don't eat. And if you don't work, you get lazy and don't want to do nothing. Work keeps me going. I like working."
A few miles away, Mark Covington and his mother have also grown their farm.
"I want to say we only had eight lots and now we have 24 that we either keep cut or we grow something on," Covington says.
He now keeps bees, which he says has tripled food production, and he has a host of new farm animals.
Both farmers have their communities in mind; Floyd contributes to a food bank, and people who have court-ordered volunteer hours can fulfil them on her farm instead of paying a fine or going to prison. Covington has purchased a nearby house for a community education centre, and also provides fresh food to the area.
"We have our turkey giveaway every year. We do 30 to 35 turkeys with a basket, so we'll put kale and collards and string beans in with it, along with some other donations that we get," he says.
"This is an asset to the city. Not just the neighbourhood but the city."
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I own a software company - that is a joke compared to the importance of what these people are doing - nothing is more valuable than learning to grow your own food
What these people are doing with Detroit is simply beautiful. Ron Finley did the same thing in Los Angeles. These videos are very encouraging to people to start growing food. I only wish I'd started earlier.
I'm from Detroit. In 2000 I moved to Arizona and started studying sustainability, by working with non-profits. I worked at a place called the Ecosa Institute in Prescott. We partnered with an organic farmer named Andrew Millison, and made the Eco-Hood project; teaching people how to do exactly, almost beat for beat, what we taught there. It is so great to see the work spreading. What is weird is I've noticed it spreads in 10 year pulses; which is I am assuing how long it takes the people who took the classes when young to get into the positions to be able to enact what they learned.
This is a throw back to the victory garden from the beginning of the 20th century. This is one answer to being green. I hope the corporatists doesn't get their hands on this.
Why don't the fast food restaurants become part of the solution? Give out a couple of strawberries with a McD meal? Or apple slices. Hire a local granny to hand out gooseberries, etc to patrons.
I Love all You Family...Shout out too all my fellow gardeners....Great work....Mrs.Edith is such a QUEEN...I always ❤ Detroit since movie Dr. DETROIT. 😃
They are so beautiful, especially Mark! Thank you for this video!
Bravo! Two thumbs up.
Edith, what an icon and a hero.
This is some very encouraging news. People working together.Etc.
If Community gardens are illeagle then law is crooked
Inspirational
Well done people 👏 👍
Congratulations AMEN
Great story.
These folks need to learn No til ! No need to plow !
Keren, anak muda di Amerika ternyata bisa menghargai orang yang lebih tua 👍 di film jolywood selalu menampilkan anak" memanggil nama yang lebih tua. Kapitalis tidak akan senang melihat setiap rumah tangga punya apotek hidup 😁
Awesome!!!
Whata cool guy.
What's funny is that all the people who say the end of global capital is the end of humanity clearly aren't familiar with human's capacity for DIY.