The Really Big Fight Over Urban Farming Is Playing Out in Small Towns

Cities around the country are slowly embracing urban farming by modifying their zoning codes to allow for commercial growing in residential neighborhoods. San Francisco's done it, Austin's on the verge of doing it, and Baltimore announced just yesterday that it wants to do more of it.

But not every city is equally zealous about the urban farming movement. A dispute over the rights of urban farmers is playing out right now in the city of Muskegon, Michigan (pop. 38,401). Urban farmers Joshua and Anna EldenBrady own several residential lots near their home on which they'd like to farm. They'd also like to open a farmers market on two lots they own that are zoned for business. But the Muskegon zoning board has refused to issue a business license to the EldenBradys on the grounds that urban farmers aren't allowed to make money. Dave Alexander from MLive.com explains: