DETROIT, Mich. – The Michigan Commission on Agriculture recently visited the urban farm of its newest member, Andy Chae of Detroit, who joined the rule making body just four months ago.

According to the Michigan Dept. of Agriculture and Rural Development Director Gary McDowell, first-generation and minority farmers can help further grow the state’s $104 billion food and agriculture industry. “Michigan’s food and agriculture industry is a powerhouse of diverse products,” McDowell said in an announcement after a visit to Chae’s farm in the midtown area of Detroit, not far from Wayne State University. “It’s exciting to see new and minority farmers discover a love for agriculture to make farming part of their careers and communities.”

According to Chae, whose two-acre parcel of land is called Fish Eye Farms, there are farms all over the city of Detroit. He says there are 10 to 15 for profit farms such as his in the area around the university alone. He added there are likely many more not for profit farms in the area as well. Chae, who is in his early 30s, got started in urban farming in 2012 in Chicago, where he worked on a youth centered farm. He started Fish Eye Farms in 2015 with his wife Amy Eckert. 

The farm grows all kinds of vegetables and herbs: in his words, they grow “a lot of stuff, like 40 different crops a season. Heirloom tomatoes, kale, herbs, peppers, turnips, a lot of things. We try to keep things diverse, so people don’t get tired of our offerings.” Fish Eye Farms is partly a Community Supported Agriculture, a CSA. Right now, the farm is 75 percent a CSA, with 90 members. He charges $550 for a membership that lasts 20 weeks, which includes seven to eight items per week. There is also a smaller CSA membership available for less money, as well as an add on that includes bread and eggs.

The farm is also a restaurant supplier, which currently services eight restaurants in the area. Chae expressed some misgivings about the CSA, partly because members sometimes do not show up for their promised package in a given week. He said he also misses his previous focus on restaurant supply, which he found to be somewhat more predictable. Before he tried his hand at doing a CSA, he supplied about 20 restaurants with his vegetables and herbs. “Next year we’re going to scale the CSA back, but we plan to invite back our best customers; next year we’re going to focus on restaurants,” he said.

Chae added that the farm is not certified organic, however, it is certified Naturally Grown, which is a certification outside the USDA. As part of the announcement of the Michigan Ag Commission’s tour of Chae’s farm, Michigan Ag Commission Chair Dru Montri said, “as commissioners, it’s important to visit farming and agricultural operations of all sizes and locations to get a deeper understanding of their challenges and what we can do to support them.”

To learn more about Fish Eye Farm, visit the web site at https://fisheyefarms.com/.