Urban Farming in Detroit

Regarding your article on Urban Farming: I find this
to be one of the most exciting news coming out of Detroit in
years. Go to any of the Farmers Markets (not just
Eastern Market) and you will find a "movement". People
want to know where their food comes from but more
importantly they want to know who is growing it. They
want know the "farmer"!

I think Detroit and Michigan are positioned to be the fruit
and vegetable capital of the upper-Midwest. With
abundant land, clear water supply, proximity to
transportation and large pool of non-tech labor we could
supply the region with fresh foods!

With our experience in automation we could take this new
"green house" technology to great heights growing year round
and delivering food in days ,maybe hours, to local tables
and eateries! Even in the dead of Winter.

However there are problems to overcome: Being a
building contractor here in Michigan (specializing in rain
gutters) I was also certified by the State for Lead
azards (I have since let my cert lapse as I'm getting out
of the business) I can tell you that many, many residential
properties are contaminated with lead. I believe lead
poisoning is wide-spread in the older cities and is a cause
of many permanent, early development learning problems for
children.

Old industrial sites are a bigger problem. Growing up
in this area and workign in the welding and tool & die
trades, I have personally witnessed dumping of extremely
toxic waste into creeks, storm water drains or just out on
the ground. The city has also been used to illegally
dump waste (of who-knows-what and who-knows-where).

The wonderful thing about Greenhouses (my Grandfather had
two and my Brother-in-law owns and operates Big Red in Romeo
which has acres under greenhouse) is that the ground below
can be capped with concrete and raised beds are used for
better control of the soil and its ambient conditions.
Fresh soil and compost can be brought in with a high degree
of control.

I would be very leery of eating anything grown in the soil
abandoned residential or industrial land.