Voice of America – Urban Farming Grows in Detroit

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D-Town Farm in Detroit

By Selah Hennessy
Voice of America
November 17, 2011

Excerpt:

D-Town is a 1.6-hectare farm that grows 35 different kinds of fruit and vegetables. Volunteers plant the farm together and in return get a discount on produce. Hunt says the aim is to give Detroit’s residents access to fresh food.

“One of the things we can do by doing this, by having people who don’t farm, who don’t have gardens in the back yard, have them come out here and see how easy it is to plant whatever it is that’s planted,” she added. “It’s like simple. You can do it in the back yard. You can grow enough in the back yard to feed everybody.”

And the farm serves another purpose: it unites the community. Local residents help out at the farm and that’s important for the area, says Kwamena Mensah, D-Town’s manager.

“When there is a community project going on, then the kids, they feel a sense of ownership,” said Mensah. “They will look out if people just dump tires and stuff in the garden . They won’t let people steal the produce and everything. There are a lot of good things happening as a result of urban farming in this city.”

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