The July 6th edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer included two articles about urban farming.  The first one, "Cleveland's for-profit urban gardens are growing", focused on the profit potential for those in the Cleveland metropolitan area who already are or might consider getting into urban farming as a viable business opportunity.  The second, "Many say the timing is right for urban farming", spoke to a marked increase in consumer demand for local foods.  The mention of more profit, reduced costs, and increased demand is music to the ears of those interested in business development and job creation.  This was made evident in the first article as it pointed out that the Fund for Our Economic Future (FFEF) invested in an Ag-Bio Cluster to further economic vitality and sustainability in NE Ohio through agricultural and bioscience endeavors.  There must be something of merit in local food systems to warrant FFEF funding!

On this same day I had the opportunity to meet with Kwodwo Ababio at his New Harvest Cafe and Community Arts Center on the corner of Arlington Ave. NE and Cleveland Ave. in Columbus, Ohio--the heart of the Linden area.

In addition, Kwodwo gave me a tour of Ama Vera's Garden behind the New Harvest Cafe and Miller Building.  The garden is named for a young woman from the neighborhood who was recently killed in a drive-by shooting.  Kwodwo is committed to use the garden, cafe, and Center as means to keep young people off the street and direct their creative energies into activities that allow self-expression, build confidence and self-esteem, and prompt a spirit of service to the neighborhood to build it up rather than tear it down.  The memory of Ama Vera pushes the real goal to the forefront: to have no young man or woman's life cut short by violence in Linden.

The garden has two sections: one is inside the fence where fresh produce for the restaurant is grown; the other is outside the fence adjoining the alley and is open for community use.  This outside the fence section features many of the same varieties that supply the restaurant and people in the neighborhood can pick it at no charge for their home use.

The cafe was not open on Monday, so I went later in the week to have a great-tasting, nutritious, and affordable lunch with many of the ingredients fresh from Ama Vera's garden.  And from the number of customers that came in while I was there, it was obvious many shared the same point of view.  The setting, the people, and the menu made for an enjoyable eating experience!

Overall, though, Kwodwo's operations are not about a restaurant or a garden or a community arts center, but about a holistic system that covers the complete food value chain from production to processing and preparation to eating.  Add the newly-opened ethnic grocery store a block away as a retail outlet willing to sell more fresh food, build additional garden space across the street from New Harvest to meet the demand, and this becomes a sustainable local food system.

Well, almost.  Sustainable local food systems are dependent on functional, efficient gardens for an uninterrupted supply of fresh food to flow through the balance of the value chain to the person who eats it.  Productive gardens only require fertile soil, fresh water, good seed and plant stock, a selection of tools and equipment, and requisite gardening expertise.  For urban settings this list gets further refined to include the following:

Raised beds or containers so they can fit onto any surface--odd-shaped areas, asphalt parking lots, concrete slabs, brownfield locations, rooftops--without removal or remediation of existing soil

Drip irrigation to regulate the flow of water coupled with a rain catchment system that utilizes run-off from rain and snow

Composting and vermiculture processes that recycle waste and replenish soil with vital nutrients and fertilizer

Season extension structures

Conversion of abandoned or vacant buildings to year-round production facilities

Aquaculture that provides more food variety and fertilizer

While this list may seem overwhelmingly difficult, there are many examples where neighborhoods and communities in metropolitan areas comparable to Columbus have done it:

Cleveland: City Fresh

Philadelphia: SPIN and Somerton Tanks Farm

Milwaukee: Growing Power and Sweet Water Organics

Chicago: Growing Home

Detroit: Grown in Detroit

And the pay-off for doing so is evident as mentioned in last week's Plain Dealer article about the potential for urban farm profitability:

"It's enticing on a micro level," says Morgan Taggart, an urban-farming specialist at Ohio State University's Cuyahoga County extension service.

"There definitely can be a good return on investment," she said.

How good? Researchers at OSU's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center estimate that urban farmers could gross up to $90,000 per acre by selecting the right crops and growing techniques, Taggart said. At experimental plots in Philadelphia, urban-market gardeners pulled in up to $68,000 in revenue per half-acre.

So, what does Kwodwo really need to get his gardens making that kind of profit?  Not much.  Steve Fortenberry, minister of the Common Ground Church in Mahoning County has partnered with institutions, agencies, community groups and businesses in and close to the Youngstown metropolitan area to launch a small-scale sustainable agriculture initiative called Goodness Grows.  Farm & Dairy posted an article last week about Mr. Fortenberry and his urban farming program entitled "Ohio church serves God, community with small-scale urban gardening".  The article reinforces the point that it's not about the money, but about the connections and the network and the flow of resources (soil, water, seeds, plants, compost, tools, equipment, facilities skills, etc.) from people who are already doing what needs to be done to areas close by that need it.

And while Kwodwo's business operations appear to be only about local foods systems, they are actually about building a local economy within a community.  To setup and sustain the gardens, process and prepare the food, handle the distribution, and get the food into the hands of the customer requires more than food alone.  It takes energy to operate equipment, heat and cool facilities, and assure the food value chain flows unimpeded and uninterrupted.  This energy can come from renewable sources at a local level: solar, wind, geothermal.  Each of those energy sources demands skills to assemble, install, and maintain.  That means jobs to those who can do it.  The same with manufacturing.  There are parts, components, modules, and assemblies that have to be fabricated and put together.  All of this can be done efficiently in small-scale, distributed facilities in a neighborhood.  Again, skills are a must.  For those who have those capabilities, that means more business startups and more jobs.  Basically, it's a complete ECONOMIC system with food safety and security at the core. 

Kwodwo's neighborhood food system needs to be plugged into the flow of resources necessary for him to expand his business, provide more fresh food to his local wholesale and retail customers, and hire more people to run his growing operations.  The purpose of the Green and Growing Initiative is to help him tap those resources.  It's an investment that's too good to pass up.  Look at the return that's possible.  Why not?  As the old Nike ad says, "Just do it!"

However, his is only one of many similar business development initiatives centered on a local food system to start that can be done in Ohio House District 27.  There are likely 25-30 such neighborhoods like Linden in the district that are candidates for this kind of leg-up.  Of course, having so many requires a community-based leadership group willing to act for the benefit of each and every neighborhood initiative as unique circumstances arise and warrant careful attention.  The purpose of a District 27 Council for Building a Local Economy is to facilitate the continued advancement of these neighborhood initiatives.  In effect, the Council is managing a district-wide community investment portfolio comprised of these initiatives.  And while entries in the portfolio may start with food systems, they are really about energy and manufacturing, too.  Hence, the Council's broader mandate is to build a local economy in District 27.  Achieving this mandate is what makes the Linden and all the other neighborhood-based food system initiatives that may start truly sustainable.

Let's go for it!