Detroit’s Eastern Market is known as a regional food hub, where producers and consumers meet to connect the food system supply chain. I was curious as to the extent of Eastern Market’s ability to aggregate and distribute fresh produce in the region and decided to map growers and farmers from the list of weekly Saturday market vendors.

While Eastern Market’s reach is statewide even into Ohio and Ontario, the vast majority of food hub participants are within 40 miles of the market. There are a very small number of growers from within the City of Detroit and the majority come from Macomb and St. Clair counties to the Northeast. These areas within the 40 mile range are, not surprisingly, at the edge of the urban – rural transition.