In support of urban and sustainable farming in Detroit, Mahindra Automotive North America recently presented the nonprofit Eastern Market Corp. with two new work vehicles.

The Mahindra vehicles, collectively named the “Mahindra RISES for Good Food Fleet,” will transport produce and supplies throughout the Eastern Market. The market attracts about a million visitors each year to the weekly Saturday and Tuesday public markets.

Among the vehicles awarded is a Roxor — the all-new off-road vehicle assembled in metro-Detroit that Mahindra launched in March. It features a steel body on a boxed-steel frame.

The second vehicle is the Mahindra Retriever 750 UTV. It will help provide more than 250 market vendors with a quick way to load and transfer goods between stalls.

Dan Carmody, president of the Eastern Market Corp., says, “We are excited to be a 2018 awardee of Mahindra’s Urban Agriculture Grant Program. Mahindra’s commitment to supporting urban ag producers is inspiring. We look forward to building a stronger ecosystem for urban producers with support from Mahindra over time and look ahead in the short term to using Mahindra’s cool vehicles to better serve urban ag producers and their customers at Eastern Market on a daily basis.”

Richard Ansell, Mahindra Automotive North America’s vice president of marketing adds, “Eastern Market’s mission is to improve access to healthy, green, affordable and fair food choices in Detroit and throughout southeast Michigan. This lines up perfectly with the work our grant initiative was created to support.”

Since 2015, Mahindra’s Urban Agricultural Grant Program has awarded over $400,000 in cash and equipment to support sustainable nonprofit farming operations and initiatives in and around Detroit. Among other things, these Mahindra grants have been responsible for growing over 1.25 million pounds of produce for Detroiters, building public equipment sheds, creating agricultural job opportunities for developmentally challenged young adults, and distributing more than 200,000 seedlings across 1,600 Detroit gardens.

The Eastern Market is the newest of the 13 nonprofit ag organizations Mahindra has supported in southeast Michigan. 

Source: Mahindra