In central Ohio, many families are struggling 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 another urban farm with the grand opening of its seven-acre "smart farm" in the Hilltop neighborhood.
Experts say the best way to fight food insecurity and hunger isn't just with food banks, but it's important to strengthen the local food system. In the Hilltop, that means growing healthy crops in less space and educating the next generation of urban growers. This new "smart farm" will serve as an educational hub and demonstration space for high-tech growing techniques. It focuses on making every acre count by maximizing their space and putting as much of the food they grow into the market as possible.
Mid-Ohio Food Collective CEO Matt Habash said it will be a big teaching tool for the community. "This was a step for us to say where's our food come from? How do we grow it? How can we educate people? How can we learn new techniques or ways of doing this?" Habash said. "So, it's a whole new edu-farm, smart farm, kind of work. For us, it's a way of giving back to the community."
There's a seed starting station and a demonstration kitchen. Habash said they want to excite people, particularly kids, about where their food comes from. He said they want to ultimately encourage them to get into careers in agriculture. "That's a big part of this to us," Habash said. "We all better be worried 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