In Central Ohio, many families struggle with food insecurity and hunger. The Mid-Ohio Farm is located right behind the station’s studios and provides produce to its neighbors in a food desert. On Tuesday, the Mid-Ohio Food Collective celebrated its 28,000-square-foot “Smart Farm” in the Hilltop neighborhood with the opening of another urban farm.
Experts say the best way to combat food insecurity and hunger is not just to support food banks, but to strengthen the local food system. At Hilltop, that means growing healthy crops in less space and training the next generation of urban farmers. This new “smart farm” will serve as an education center and demonstration space for cutting-edge farming techniques that focus on making the most of every acre of land to maximize space and get as much of the food grown to market as possible.
Matt Habash, CEO of the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, said it will be a great educational tool for the community. “This was a step for us to say where does our food come from? How do we grow it? How can we educate people? How can we learn new techniques or methods to do this?” Habash said. “So it’s a whole new type of work in the sense of an educational farm, a smart farm. For us, it’s a way to give back to the community.”
There’s a seed station and a demonstration kitchen. Habash said they want to get people, especially children, excited about where their food comes from. He said they ultimately want to encourage them to pursue a career in farming. “That’s a big part of it for us,” Habash said. “We should all be thinking about how old our farmers are and, you know, where our food is going to come from in the future.”
Read more at: nbc4i.com
