In Detroit, the USDA will open its first service center for urban agriculture
“I would hope that the most immediate impact it has is raising awareness around policies that may be obstructive or prohibitive to practicing urban agriculture and Detroit,”
By Jena Brooker
Bridge Michigan
July 6, 2022
Excerpt:
Detroit will soon get the first United States Department of Agriculture office in the country dedicated to supporting urban agriculture.
Across the country, the USDA has farm service offices, physical hubs that connect farmers to federal resources like emergency assistance, conservation programs and credit and loan programs. But Detroit’s is expected to be the first office with a specific focus on urban agriculture and urban farmers.
The Detroit hub will be the first USDA service center of any kind in the city of Detroit. The closest USDA offices are located in Ann Arbor and East Lansing.
During a listening session convened with about 50 farmers in Eastern Market in late June, USDA officials were unable to provide a concrete timeline, but said they expect the office will open within a year. Federal officials visited Detroit to gather feedback from farmers on where the office should be located, who should run it and what they would like it to provide. Notices about the new office and the listening session appeared to have been released solely through the social media accounts of Keep Growing Detroit, a nonprofit that supports Detroit growers. The USDA declined to comment on its plans for the Detroit office ahead of an official announcement.
