Detroit urban farm receives $100,000 in grants to repurpose blighted home site

This blighted home in Detroit’s North End neighborhood was razed by Michigan Urban Farming Initiative for $5,000 to make way for a cistern and outdoor community recreation space to be completed this summer.

The city of Detroit spends about $13,000 on average to tear down homes

By Tyler Clifford
Crain’s Detroit Business
Mar 27, 2017

Excerpt:

Minneapolis-based Target Corp. provided the all-volunteer nonprofit a $25,000 grant to convert the roughly 2,300-square-foot property into a cistern using technology produced by Saginaw-based Blue Thumb Inc., MUFI President Tyson Gersh said. France-based Garnier LLC also provided a $25,000 grant, in addition to a $50,000 grant in conjunction with New Jersey-based TerraCycle, to develop outdoor recreational space and supporting infrastructure, he said.

“This is important for urban agriculture as a whole, which struggles to get water as a whole. Through the automated system, we’ve optimized our own irrigation practices that cuts the amount of time that it takes to water our crop,” Gersh said.

With the city of Detroit spending about $13,000 on average to tear down homes in its demolition program in 2016, MUFI found a less expensive option. The organization spent roughly $5,000 to knock down the dilapidated superstructure while preserving the foundation.

Read the complete article here.