permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Why Is Michigan Trying to Derail Detroit's Urban Farming Movement? |
Occupy.com
http://www.occupy.com/article/why-michigan-trying-derail-detroits-urban-farming-movement

Michiganders who raise chickens, goats and ​honey ​bees on their
residential property have had their right to keep livestock stripped awayby
the state’s Agriculture and Rural Development Commission, which says they
are not protected by the same laws as commercial farms. Urban parts of
Michigan, particularly Detroit, have been enjoying a renaissance of
small-scale farming in recent years. Much of it has been in the form of
community farms, residents providing food for themselves, and small
entrepreneurs who sell fresh eggs, dairy, honey, and produce to their
neighbors, sometimes off the books.
Commission Chair Diane Hanson said that the state’s previous agricultural
management rules “were not suitable for livestock in urban and suburban
areas.” Now, properties not zoned for agricultural use with 13 or more
residences within an eighth of a mile or another residence within 250 feet
may be required to cease keeping livestock if asked by local authorities.
Many urban and suburban farmers had assumed that the state’s Right to Farm
Act, made law in 1981, extended to those who raise livestock in residential
areas and allowed ​them to have livestock without being considered a
nuisance, as long as the rules of the Act were followed. The law was
originally written to protect farmers from residential encroachment
impacting their agricultural operations.​​
This ruling not only has backyard farmers upset, it has been met with
opposition from environmental groups. The state’s chapter of the Sierra
Club says that the new changes will effectively remove all protections for
those raising animals on urban lots or on small acreages.
The new guidelines from the state come only a few months after a Michigan
Circuit Court ruled that a Williamstown Township family could not operate a
farm on their 1.5 acre property. Jeremiah and Jessica Hudson started Sweet
Peas Farm at their home, near the state capital of Lansing, to ensure their
five children were getting a proper diet. The Hudsons claim their kids
suffer from numerous food allergies and that they had difficulty finding
non-allergenic eggs and milk, which impairs their children's ability to eat
a balanced diet.
On their property, which sits among six residences distributed over 70
acres of land, the Hudsons had raised pigs, goats, chickens and rabbits,
which the township said was a zoning violation. The Hudsons argued that
they had a legal right to raise livestock and were protected under the
Right to Farm Act because they planned on selling food that they produced
there and that commercial farms were protected from local nuisance
ordinances. However, the Township Supervisor Mickey Martin contended that
the animals were kept in a residential zone where farm animals are
forbidden, and that legal protections provided under state law did not
trump local zoning ordinances.
The Hudsons, whose legal fees have been paid for in part by Internet
donations, have filed a petition to have their case heard by Michigan’s
Court of Appeals.
- See more at:
http://www.occupy.com/article/why-michigan-trying-derail-detroits-urban-farming-movement#sthash.l9ge2uxf.uX4KE61p.dpuf

Burgeoning Movement is Threatened
Detroit, Michigan’s largest city, has been the driving force behind the
urban-farming boom in the state. The city, which has been suffering from
blight and decay for many years, has seen more than a third of its
residential homes abandoned, burned down, or gutted by scavengers over the
past few decades.
However, among the city’s ruins are some 30,000 acres of rich soil, which
are fed by water and roadway infrastructures plenty robust for proper
irrigation and food distribution. Now, within the city’s limits, you’ll
find everything from modest bungalows with attached hen houses, to fields
owned by anti-hunger charities, to educational and community farms. A
300-acre woodlands is being planted on Detroit's East Side. There are plans
for the city to host large commercial farming enterprises jumping on the
organic, regional and other niche food bandwagons.
While urban farms can't compete with rural farms in terms of price per
acre, they can compete through product differentiation and value.
Entrepreneurs in the Detroit metropolitan area have touted small farms that
specialize in hard-to-get ethnic foods and pharmaceutical-grade herbs.
What effect this law will have on urban farming within Detroit's city
limits is not known. While there are many advocates for animal
husbandry within the city, owning and raising farm animals is illegal
within its limits. Still, it's not uncommon to see chicken coops or animal
pens in the yards of homes. The city has so many real problems these days
that it probably looks the other way. Moreover, Detroit's government is
contemplating the employment of goats and sheep to graze on the overgrown
turf in the city's numerous empty lots. Allowing this, however, would
require changes to the city's urban agriculture ordinance.
In the suburbs, also suffering from the state’s drawn-out recession, and in
many areas elsewhere in the state, this entrepreneurial movement is also
starting to take hold. Roadside stands with locally grown food are
sprouting along the metropolitan area’s “mile roads” and boulevards. People
sell organic eggs over Craigslist, sometimes delivering them right to the
buyer's door.
“The Michigan Agriculture Commission passed up an opportunity to support
one of the hottest trends in food in Michigan — public demand for access to
more local, healthy, sustainable food,” said Gail Philbin, the assistant
director of the state’s Sierra Club. “The commission is essentially taking
sides in the marketplace.”
In response to the commission's ruling, the Michigan Small Farm Council has
taken action. The organization is asking concerned residents to contact the
commissioners directly to express to express their discontent. They have
also been pushing a grassroots MoveOn.org petition that is asking the
commission to reconsider. As of this writing, it has 40,000 signatures. The
petition was originally authored by a concerned individual, George John
Thompson. "Protect our individual rights to provide our own food and make
small farmers a priority in Michigan," the petition demands.
Public outrage has caused the Commission of Agriculture and Rural
Development to defend its ruling to the public. The commission contends
that the Right to Farm Act only applies to commercial farming, and not an
individual's or family’s right to provide his or her own food. Therefore,
state law never gave individuals the right to keep livestock on their
property to begin with. The commission also pointed out that the changes do
not apply in areas already zoned for agriculture.
Commissioner Dru Montri, a small farmer from Bath Township, was the lone
dissenting voice out of five commissioners. Montri, who states that she’s
committed to a regional food system on the commission’s website, contends
that she doesn’t “fully understand the potential impacts these changes are
going to hav​​e on small-scale commercial farmers in densely populated
areas. I had several concerns and questions, not just one sticking point,
that I raised during the Commission meetings."​
Originally published by Alternet
- See more at:
http://www.occupy.com/article/why-michigan-trying-derail-detroits-urban-farming-movement#sthash.l9ge2uxf.uX4KE61p.dpuf