City of Detroit, Michigan State launch urban agriculture initiative

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Michigan State President Lou Anna Simon announced today they’ve signed a memorandum of understanding to launch what they call the “MetropolitanFoodPlus Innovation Cluster @ Detroit.”

Michigan State will initially spend $1.5 million toward the project, which promises to work with existing community agriculture efforts as well as use Michigan State’s agriculture research capacity to help pioneer new farming technologies in Detroit and improve fresh food distribution to underserved communities.

“Detroit, with the assistance of MSU and many others, has the opportunity to redefine metropolitan food and agriculture for the 21st century,” Bing said.

Michigan State officials say they hope to eventually open a permanent facility in a small footprint at some point as part of the project, but Michigan State officials say they are focused on working with the existing organizations like Gleaners, Eastern Market, and Greening of Detroit.

A community worshop to kick-off the project is scheduled for July 11-12 at Michigan State’s conference center in Novi.