Metro Detroit decides to compete with rural farmers

One one of Fast Company's daily news updates this week they had an article about Detroit's attempt to recover from the auto industry troubles.  The article says  "Michigan entrepreneur John Hantz invested $30 million in his Hantz Farms project, which takes aim at 5,000 acres of Detroit land for farming everything from organic lettuce to crops for biofuels."  It says that Hantz had trouble finding large parcels of land so "Instead, Hantz is buying smaller, unconnected parcels that will each grow different crops depending on the soil and surrounding environment."  Is there a lesson to be learned here by rural Iowans.  It is not that we should walk away from our work to diversity our economy but we should also work at building and rebuilding what we do so well.  The sustainable agriculture and local foods movements may cause a second look for some farmers in how they farm and what they farm but it is definitely a keeper and something to exploit - yes I said exploit.