Urban Farmers Working a Vacant Property Until Land’s Rightful Owner Pops Up

Posted by Alec Cope | Feb 10, 2015 |

Urban Farmers Working a Vacant Property Until Land’s Rightful Owner Pops Up

SOURCE: SLT Today

Joe Spears was ready to give up the farm.

He had no legal claim to the plot of land in Kinloch, after all. Spears was just one of several dozen people who, without any official clearance, had been planting and harvesting greens, okra, melons, beans, tomatoes and peppers for the past 35 years on about nine vacant acres abutting North Hanley Road.

When an executive from one of the largest construction firms in the Midwest approached the amateur farmers in the fields last fall, it looked like a good thing was coming to an end.

“We were never trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes,” Spears, 70, of Rock Hill, said last week. “It wasn’t our property. And it wouldn’t be right for us to make a scene when the rightful owners told us to move on.”

The rightful owner, Clayco Inc., explained that the minifarms lay in the path of the planned expansion of NorthPark Business Park, the company’s massive development that counts Express Scripts and Vatterott College as tenants.

Then came a proposal that caught the farmers, including Armstead Ford, by surprise.

“Clayco offered to give us another place to farm,” Ford, 75, of Northwoods, said. “I was hopeful but skeptical.”

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About The Author

Alec Cope

After years of research and a series of unpleasant experiences concerning the current child protection services system, Alec Cope decided to combat the cancerous corruption through information. Freelance writing articles as a form of protest and distributing them throughout his former high-school and local area, Alec struck special chords with whomever he was in contact with. Alec has been involved in activism such as sit down protests as well as Idle No More gatherings. Being independent for the majority of his time, Alec became a member of the WeAreChange family to assist one of the organizations that inspired him to become active in the first place. With a larger platform and positive support Alec has committed the majority of his time to research, writing, and maintaining social media with the goal to continue expanding the awakening sweeping throughout all levels of society. Growing up within a rural area in Northern Michigan as well as being a native American descendant, Alec is seeking to expose environmental abuse in his state as well as globally. A high-school dropout, Alec chases his passion for writing and empowering individuals while showing any isolated person that they too can overcome the odds with a community that will support them. Alec lives in the lower peninsula of Michigan near Kalamazoo. https://www.facebook.com/alec.cope.75 [email protected] https://www.twitter.com/AlecCope http://www.pinterest.com/aleccope75/

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