Linked by Michael LevenstonVacant lots across Detroit have been transformed into productive urban farms and community gardens. It comes straight from the city’s own urban agriculture division, which tracks gardens and farms as part of its land access and food policy work. Researchers have also examined how much vacant land the city has available for agriculture. According to Michigan State University’s agriculture extension research, a public land-grant university program, Detroit has roughly 9 square miles of publicly available vacant land. They also warned that larger city farms would face soil quality and contamination issues, making bioremediation and statistical sampling essential before food could be grown safely at scale.