Michigan State University envisions urban farm and research hub in Detroit

From The Detroit News: Michigan State University is pitching a $100 million plan to Detroit leaders to transform blighted land, abandoned structures and vacant parking lots into an urban farm and research hub. The idea could make Detroit into a global model for growing food and energy crops in once unthinkable urban settings — inside desolate buildings, on contaminated soil and between concrete slabs of shopping center lots. The technology MSU researchers hope to cultivate by growing crops here with limited energy and water could be a model exported to dense cities across the world struggling with food production, according to the university. MSU's Greening Michigan Institute has been designing the plan.