I understand your points, Corktownyuppie. There is certainly some merit in your argument. In the end, however, I still perceive urban farming as just another step in Detroit's decline into complete irrelevance [[because we know how much economic and political clout small farms have), which not so coincidentally is bad for the region as whole. I'm not going to celebrate it.

Tons of money was poured into Detroit in the '70s to stop the city from free falling, but did it work? The development of the Renaissance Center resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars of investment into Detroit, alone. What's $50 million in today's money going to fix? It's just another drop in the bucket of Metro Detroit's apathy.

If trends like urban farms and investments like MSU's continue, what will we be able to say in 20 years to outsiders? "Yeah, Detroit used to be bad. But we turned most of our big city into a farm. It's great now!" It will go down in history as a stunning example of the impermanence of human civilization.

And, in this scenario, what happens to the suburbs when the US auto industry reaches out its hands for another bailout in 10 or 20 years, and this time the federal government doesn't have the cash to spare? How soon before the suburbs bordering Detroit begin to look like the suburbs inside Detroit today? Will we turn those neighborhoods into farms, too?

Decentralization will kill this region, and farming is just another step in that process. Coleman Young once said in the '90s, "Detroit today is your city tomorrow." I'm finding it increasingly hard to argue with him as our region's entrenched attitudes slowly ruin everything. I'm just glad I'm still young enough to move out, away from the crazies that think an Olga's Kitchen and giant urban farm are the answers.