The Metro: Fighting food waste with composting in metro Detroit
On The Metro, local leaders discussed composting solutions across the region—including a shoutout to Sanctuary Farms on Detroit’s east side. As a community hub for sustainable practices, Sanctuary Farms is helping lead the charge in reducing food waste and enriching local soil through composting.
GreenBiz 2025: Making change now
At GreenBiz 2025 in Phoenix, the Emerging Leaders cohort—featuring Sanctuary Farms co-founder Jøn Kent—came together to tackle today’s most pressing sustainability challenges. This next generation of changemakers is breaking through institutional silos, translating bold ideas into action, and redefining leadership with resilience, collaboration, and purpose.
Panel on Food Waste (jøn kent, Reneé V. Wallace, Hajime Sato, and Jamina Shupack)
Learn from four innovative panelists: jøn kent, Reneé V. Wallace, Hajime Sato, and Jamina Shupack, as they share their insights and diverse approaches to tackling food waste.
Equity and Access Co-Design Lab: Creating the Foundation for a Just and Equitable Food System in Michigan
The Equity and Access Design Lab series, facilitated by the Michigan Local Food Council Network, convened food and farming leaders to practice collaborative leadership focused on amplifying collective power across communities of color.
Ordinance allowing chickens, ducks and bees within Detroit city limits passes
Residents can raise up to eight chickens or ducks and a maximum of two beehives. More than 2,000 homes are expected to do so in the next 10 years, according to the city.
Ecosphere Organics on Advancing Sustainable Biorefining
A new survey shows that 86% of US farmers under 40 practice regenerative agriculture. But many — especially farmers of color — struggle to access land and capital.
Lunch & Learn Producers Panel
Check out the Lunch & Learn Producers Panel by the National Urban Agriculture Initiative, featuring our co-founder jøn kent! jøn shares what it means to be a farmer in Detroit and highlights the impactful projects we’re working on to uplift our community and protect the environment.
Know Your Farmer: Detroit Urban Growers
Detroit has a thriving urban agriculture community, where residents use available vacant land to grow food, feed their families and neighbors, and run successful farm businesses. Keep reading to learn about a few urban growers activating vacant land, supporting the natural ecosystem, and strengthening the local food system!
USDA falls short on bridging gap with Detroit urban farmers
Detroit's first National Urban Agriculture Conference spotlighted urban farming but raised concerns over the USDA's Detroit office being located in Ann Arbor, leading to director Jamal Thomas' resignation. Local farmers, including Sanctuary Farms' Jon Kent, struggled to connect with the office. The event emphasized Detroit's leadership in urban agriculture.
MDARD Hosts Roundtable to Develop New ‘Farm to Family’ Program Under Governor Whitmer’s Bipartisan Budget
MDARD hosted a roundtable to introduce the $3 million "Farm to Family" program under Governor Whitmer's bipartisan budget. The initiative aims to boost Michigan’s food supply chains, support local farmers, and expand access to healthy, locally grown food across the state.
SBN Detroit: Revitalizing Detroit with Sanctuary Farms
Discover how Sanctuary Farms is part of the Black urban agriculture movement, promoting a circular economy and engaging food entrepreneurs by offering opportunities to scale sustainable agriculture in Detroit.
Kiss the Ground: 5 with a Farmer
Did you know that Detroit is one of the top cities in the U.S. for urban agriculture, with over 2,200 gardens and farms? Detroit's Sanctuary Farms is bringing food to the people, helping build supportive food systems, and giving their community the opportunity to see how things are grown. They're also teaching us that farming can be wholesome, connected, and diverse.
NextCycle Michigan awards more than $100k
NextCycle Michigan awards more than $100k to entrepreneurs, communities, and groups advancing Michigan’s circular economy
A robot is helping turn food waste into compost in Detroit
The nonprofit composting service Scrap Soils is testing the effectiveness of using an autonomous robot to transport food to be composted.
Juneteenth 2024–Taking Action to Fight Disproportionate Adverse Effects to People of Color
Calls for Holistic Environmental Justice and a Shift Away from Societal Dependence on Petrochemical Pesticides and Fertilizers
Network Duality Project Proposal and Sanctuary Farms
Network Duality is a conceptual framework that critically conceptualizes, analyzes, and contests issues around urban infrastructure through a network lens. It acknowledges that such infrastructure---be it transport, social, or digital---can simultaneously be inclusive and exclusive, offering connectivity and access for certain populations, places, or types of flows, while marginalizing or restricting others.
Family Farms Conference workshop recordings highlight sustainable agriculture
Videos include farmer SARE grant projects, farmer wellness, farm to school, agritourism, small-scale livestock and more.
Get your hands dirty, volunteer on a Detroit farm
Numerous urban farms and gardens in Detroit host volunteers to assist with tasks from weeding to harvesting to maintenance.
Seed Award Spotlight: Sanctuary Farms
In early 2024, 11 Seed Award winners were chosen to receive seed funding totaling almost $150,000, based on their businesses’ commitment to promoting racial equity, enhancing healthy food access, fostering job creation, and embracing resilient climate practices.
Among these deserving winners is Sanctuary Farms, an organic farm in Detroit’s lower east side that has transformed city blocks into an urban oasis, providing fresh, affordable produce to the community.
Reflections on Mutual Aid: Mother Earth’s Call to Action for Regeneration by jøn kent
Living cooperatively is no easy task. As humans, we are all one species but we all have distinct fingerprints. This duality between self and group based identities might lead one to paralysis when analyzing human social life if we believe in the false narratives of the bootstrapping mentality. . However, for those who see mutual aid in all we do, we are able more readily to see our differences as the beauty of life.