Check out this story, which covers how the city of Detroit is becoming more urban-ag-friendly!
Citing soil remediation and growing one’s own food, the article states that Detroit is proposing legislation in which “A Detroit householder will be able to keep a maximum of eight chickens and four goats.”
Naysayers cite the arguments of noise, smell, and stray animals, which the city is creating plans to mitigate. “Good training for animal keepers, offered promptly, would stem many problems and complaints,” which is the same philosophy held by the Chicago Chicken Enthusiasts. A little training goes a long way!
Detroit’s urban ag proponents, like Chicago’s, aim self-police to ensure that all animal keepers follow best practices. This will prevent urban farm animals from becoming a nuisance to city officials and neighbors.
Kudos to Detroit for exploring this new way of thinking about urban space.
p.s. It should be noted that the animals in the photo captioned “Diane Van Buren’s chickens wander through her backyard” look a lot more like Indian runner ducks than chickens!
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