Overview:
-Keep Growing Detroit plans to build a facility for Detroit farmers to wash and pack their produce adjacent to its Eastern Market farm.
-The purchase of the neighboring property would also support the nonprofit's Garden Resource Program.
-"It's helping us accelerate our progress towards becoming a food sovereign city," says Keep Growing Detroit's Ashley Atkinson.
Keep Growing Detroit, a nonprofit dedicated to cultivating food sovereignty in the city, is fundraising to purchase land adjacent to its Eastern Market farm.
The campaign is nearing its $40,000 goal with 10 days remaining, with more than 327 donations, according to KGD’s fundraising website.
The new land will not only enable KGD to increase production, but provide ample space for significant infrastructure projects that will benefit gardeners and farmers across the city, according to KGD. It also helps prevent the threat of outside development next to the organization’s 1.38-acre farm on Orleans Street.
“Ideally, if it were to be included in the farm, it would help us grow our capacity to meet the growing demands of our community,” Ashley Atkinson, co-director of farm and market operations at KGD, said of the 0.419 acres of land the nonprofit hopes to buy.
“And if it were excluded, and we had a neighbor who say, wanted to do a development or something there, it could negatively impact the farm itself.”
Earlier this week, KGD announced that a local family foundation will match every gift to its fundraising campaign, “Doing It for the Plot,” up to $10,000.
Keep Growing Detroit’s expansion plan
If the fundraiser is successful, KGD plans to build a wash pack facility where farmers from all over the city can wash and pack their produce. The facility would also have cooler space for storage.
The land purchase would contribute to Keep Growing Detroit’s Garden Resource Program, which distributes seeds, starter plants, and tools to over 2,800 family, school, community, and market gardens across Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck, according to KGD.
The Garden Resource Program has doubled in size in less than 10 years, Atkinson said.
“It’s helping us accelerate our progress towards becoming a food sovereign city,” she said.
This means Keep Growing Detroit needs to plan for where it will produce seasonal plants for the growing program, and the additional land will create more space for “critical” transplant production, Atkinson said.
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How Keep Growing Detroit preserves spirit of Eastern Market
The broader significance of securing the land is not just for operations, but for preserving the spirit of Detroit’s Eastern Market district, she said.
“The farm plays such a critical role in not only providing resources for the city’s gardeners and farmers, but demonstrating all sorts of really critical practices, like rainwater collection, and growing in high tunnels that help reduce food and farming carbon footprint, incorporating native plants, and building habitats for pollinators and birds.”
The farm is a place to demonstrate culturally relevant food and farming practices, Atkinson said. “If you walk through the farm, you’ll see tomatoes, the Three Sisters crops, okra, peppers — foods very culturally important to all sorts of communities across the city.”
The seller of the land supports KGD’s vision, Atkinson said.