Monday, April 9, 2012

Each city should have their own FBI

-The year of aquaponics continues. In Indianapolis an entrepreneur is drumming up support for a $20 million facility. It is still far from a done deal, but the mayor is involved, team leader is a serial entrepreneur and board member of the local aquaculture association. Let's track this one to see where it goes. I'm predicting big things.

Let's move on from Indianapolis to Agropolis. (Wow, what a segue!) Back in October I introduced you to a truly innovative project in the Philippines. The Agropolis project provides a slew of urban agriculture programs training out-of-school youth to be savvy entrepreneurs.

I was blown away by what they were doing and got in contact with Jose Rene Gayo, who is heavily involved with both the Farm Business Schools and the MFI Farm Business Institute. He was kind enough to answer a few of my questions about the projects.

Of note, the partnership between the stakeholders has entered its third year and the eco-farm tourism entrepreneurship diploma program is two years long (!).

For more information, like how your town can have their own farm business institute (FBI), you can email Jose Rene Gayo at renegayo (at) gmail (dot) com.

Another must have for every big city is an organization designed to navigate bureaucracy, governance structures, and neighborhood dynamics. 596 Acres does just that in Brooklyn. Of course not every one of those 596 acres will be used for urban agriculture, if they were, that's enough land to feed almost 3,000 people!

-Finally last week brought word of not one, but two one-stop shops for urban homesteaders. Detroit's is up and running, Vancouver's will open soon.

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