Businessman proposes commercial farming in Detroit

Editors note: This is part of a series of stories about innovative ways of recycling abandoned urban land in the Great Lakes region.

By Brian Bienkowski

Driving from his southeast Detroit home to his offices in a northern suburb every day, John Hantz observed an obvious, distressing truth about his city.

Detroit is broken.

Crime, poverty and lack of employment are just a few by-products of Detroit’s urban disaster. With a population of fewer than 900,000, the days of a bustling downtown and thriving middle class are long gone.

As businesses, jobs and people left, one thing stayed: land, and a lot of it. Nearly 30 percent of the 139-square-mile city is vacant.That’s double the size of Manhattan.

Faced with unoccupied land and a scarcity of fresh, healthy foods, Detroit is reviving its long-standing tradition of urban agriculture and becoming an archetype in the process.

Long confined to the work of enduring citizens and nonprofit organizations, Detroit’s agricultural landscape may soon change. John Hantz, CEO of financial holding company, Hantz Group, Inc., has proposed bringing commercial farming to the Motor City.

And he just might do it.

Ambitious Plans

Urban farming traditionally relies upon subsidy grants or nonprofit status to be commercially viable. Typical projects farm a few acres.

John Hantz is looking beyond a few acres. The 21-year resident of Detroit has deep pockets from the Hantz Group and his years at American Express Financial Services. While most of the city’s affluent have fled, he has remained in the city and is prepared to put his money to work.

Hantz has committed $30 million over 10 years for his project. The original proposal was to farm 5,000 to 10,000 acres of land. With its financial backing, desired amount of land and for-profit status, Hantz Farms L.L.C. has broken from traditional models.It’s an approach to urban blight unheard of until now.

Operating out of an old factory building on Detroit’s eastside, Hantz Farms is close to buying 100 to 120 acres of city-owned foreclosed property – the equivalent of 80 football fields. A scaled-back version of the original proposal, this “proof of concept” agreement would allow Hantz Farms and city planners to determine the feasibility of the venture.

“The city is interested but was unsure about 5,000 to 10,000 acres,” says Mike Score, president of Hantz Farms. “If the city likes what they see, they will partner with us to expand. We will then grow our farm and right-size it to the marketplace.”

Currently on unpaid leave from Michigan State University, where he works as an agricultural educator and counselor, Score is one of three employees at Hantz Farms. His experience in agricultural development makes him the brains behind the project.

The company will purchase the acreage in large, divided parcels. Production will include forests, a Christmas tree farm, orchards and traditional outdoor fruit and vegetable plots. Soil quality will determine exact agricultural use, Score says.

For year-round food production, Hantz Farms will use hoop-houses and more advanced techniques of indoor hydroponic and aeroponic grow systems. Similar to greenhouses, hoophouses are low-cost structures that extend the growing season by insulating plants with a plastic covering. Hydroponic and aeroponic systems are highly efficient indoor methods that use water and air (or mist), respectively, to grow plants year-round.

In addition, the company plans to have direct retail at the production sites and sell to wholesale distributors around the area.

Nothing new?

While an ambitious project in its size, scope and structure, its core principle is familiar to city residents. Although Detroit is inextricably linked to industry, community gardens and city farms have long played an important role in the lives of its inhabitants, says Mark Bowden, coordinator for special collections at the Detroit Public Library.

During the depression of the late 1800s, the city initiated a vacant-lot garden program for the unemployed. These initial programs were referred to as “The Detroit Experiment” or “The Potato Patch Farms,” Bowden says.

Urban gardening continued with the influx of black labor from the south throughout the first half of the 20th century. The practice gained even more momentum in 1976 with the Urban Garden Program, a federally funded effort by the Department of Agriculture.

Detroit was one of six cities awarded start-up money to set up garden projects. The mid-90s brought another increase in urban agricultural activity with the slumping economy and high-unemployment.

“Urban agriculture has deep roots in Detroit,” says Lisa Richter, outreach coordinator of Earthworks Urban Farm, an initiative of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit. “The difference is that now it is being seen with different eyes and possibilities.”

But these “deep roots” have almost exclusively belonged to nonprofits, cooperatives and individuals.

Earthworks Urban Farm, started in 1997, is part of a collaboration of nonprofit agencies and Michigan State University that began working together in 2003 as the Garden Resource Program in Detroit. Collectively, they provide resources to connect residents to the land and to their food. The Garden Resource Program supports approximately 875 city gardens.

As is common to most urban agricultural projects, Earthworks reconnects the environment and community.

“We have a whole culture that has lost its connection to land and food, real food,” Richter says.

Earthworks farms two acres with the help of two full-time employees, four part-time employees and volunteers. Though not opposed to the idea of a for-profit venture, Richter is cautious in offering support.

“We stand for local, community-based food systems,” she says. “I am willing to support them if they maintain these core values.”

Score sees Hantz Farms as a complement to the current nonprofit network.

“They have their niche carved out in southeast Michigan,” Score says. “We are focusing our farm on direct retail, people visiting our farms and institutional accounts.”

Volunteers can also serve as a pool of potential employees, Score says. The initial proof of concept plan allows Hantz Farms to employ 20 to 25 production workers; that number will increase as Hantz Farms expands.

Transparency

Detroit resident Rachel Severin just wants to know more about the project. As an AmeriCorps volunteer at Earthworks, she is adamant that any new projects need to be looked at through the eyes of the citizens, and is open to the for-profit model if it’s done correctly.

“Nonprofits shouldn’t be hostile to for-profits, and vice versa,” Severin says. Let’s have a discussion of the bigger issues … will this be a sustainable model for the city?”

Even those entrenched in the city’s current urban agricultural landscape are approaching the proposal with trepidation. Although there is a lot of vacant land, large-scale farming is not the “magic answer,” says Eric Dueweke, adjunct lecturer in urban planning at University of Michigan. Hantz farms may “move the needle” a bit, but it is not a viable long-term solution, he says.

“Would this be a better use of land over the current non-use … yes,” Dueweke says. “Is this the answer to the poverty, unemployment and land-use issues in the city of Detroit … that answer is no.”

The revitalization of the city is dependent upon the return of businesses and jobs. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is in the nascent stages of a 12- to 18-month long land-use planning process that will attempt to restructure the city and stabilize neighborhoods. Residents fear that they may be forced to move from their homes – a fear commonly associated with Hantz Farms as well.

Score understands the apprehension but does not understand the frequent claims that John Hantz is attempting a “land grab,” or likening the project to a plantation. In purchasing city-owned property, residents will not be displaced, and the company has begun surveying residents in areas that may be neighbors of project farms, Score says.

While select residents are being targeted by Hantz Farms for their opinions and support, many city residents are left to media reports and rumors about the project.

“There is a lack of transparency,” says Malik Yakini, chairman of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network. “We have no clear understanding of what he’s proposing.”

Yakini expresses obvious frustration with what he perceives as a “lack of dialogue” between Hantz and the community. The food security network, formed in 2006, organizes the African-American community around food security and food justice issues in the city. The network runs a two-acre model farm and food co-op. It also works closely with Earthworks and other programs affiliated with the Garden Resource Program.

The network hasn’t taken a stance on Hantz Farms yet. There may be room for a for-profit venture, Yakini says. But the scale, secrecy and leadership have led him to question the project.

“The scale is inappropriate for an urban area, I’ve heard anywhere from 40 to 10,000 acres,” Yakini says. “And if you look at their leadership – Hantz, Score and [Matt] Allen – they’re all white men. In a city that’s over 80 percent African-American, their leadership is lacking in diversity.”

Score recognizes that “different organizations will have different preferences” but sees the foreclosed property, chronic unemployment and available finances from John Hantz as the perfect storm for Hantz Farms to begin operations. The soft-spoken Score sounds almost idealistic when he speaks about the future goals of the organization.

“Down the road, we’d like to make our farm a learning center for urban agriculture,” Score says. “With help from Michigan State and corporate funding, we’d like to open a global innovation center that would aggregate cutting-edge growing systems from around the world.”

But not one seed will hit the ground without city government approval. Detroit is desperate for economic activity, and whether the city supports him or not, Hantz is looking to invest – even when other investors have long turned the other way.

Whether this venture produces row farms in vacant lots or state-of-the-art global innovation centers remains to be seen.

The outcome could change the future of urban agriculture.

More from this series:

• Great Lakes cities recycle brownfields into economic hope
• Buffalo brownfields link past industry to hope
• Solar power transforms a Chicago brownfield into a shining brightfield
  
• Community support, diverse funds save historic building from demolition
  
• Officials hope former truck factory helps make Michigan a movie star
  
• Federal loan brings employment hope to Wisconsin brownfields

*Note: This story initially appeared in the Fall 2010 issue of EJ Magazine.