The collapse of Detroit’s manufacturing industry and subsequent urban flight has left the city with large areas of vacant land. As part of the study, the researchers from Michigan State University catalogued available land without existing structures. Using aerial imagery and the city’s database of vacant property, they identified more than 44,000 available parcels of land, covering an area of almost 2,000 hectares. This land, if turned over to a combination of urban farms, community gardens, storage facilities and hoop houses – greenhouses used to extend the growing season – could satisfy three quarters of the local demand for vegetables and 40 per cent of the demand for fruits, the researchers calculated. 

‘What’s clear from our analysis is that even with a limited growing season, significant quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables eaten by Detroiters could be grown locally,’ said Kathryn Colasanti, the graduate student who led the study, which was published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. ‘And investments in produce storage facilities and hoop houses would increase this capacity substantially.’

January 2011