Jesse Jackson calls urban farming a “cute but foolish” economic plan for Detroit

In an appearance before the city council in Detroit this week Rev. Jesse Jackson dismissed the idea that urban farming is going to solve Detroit’s problems.

Jackson told city leaders that the idea of relying on farming to save Detroit is “kind of cute but foolish it seems to me, as opposed to talking about urban homesteading,” the Detroit News reports.

Abandoned land should be offered to the people of Detroit, he said, and he warned that large farms could push some residents out of the city.

Jackson, who is in town in preparation for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s global automotive summit at the Motor City Casino at the end of the month, told leaders that the city needs more industry.

“The governor, a Democrat, brags about Michigan getting a battery plant, built north of Grand Rapids, as opposed to Detroit, the engine that drives the state,” Jackson said.
“We need industrialization, not farming. Detroit needs the battery plant. Let farmers farm … We are not offering a farming plan for Baghdad.”

Over at Time’s Detroit blog Darrell Dawsey asks why the 138 square mile city can’t pursue farming and industry simultaneously.

OK, I agree that Detroit is, or at least should be, a manufacturing power first and foremost. Building stuff that people want to buy will always be the key to economic relevance. Nothing wrong with planning for the day when we can churn out pallets of solar panels and windmill blades over at the old Budd plant or wherever.

But why does this totally preclude the idea that agribusiness can thrive here? Why can’t Detroit seize on its manufacturing roots to revitalize its industrial sector, spur growth in construction and, at the same time, make space for substantial agricultural operations?