Ohio State University is piloting a project that could provide more food and jobs to the cities that need them.
Kip Curtis, an assistant professor at the Mansfield campus, helped build the first micro-farm there last year in a parking lot.
Curtis believes expanding micro-farms throughout Mansfield can help combat certain issues.
“Mansfield, Ohio, emerged as really kind of a right-sized city to begin to test the project, facing the kind of issues we want to address with the food," Curtis says. "Low income — because of loss of jobs — low performance in schools and a number of dire related health issues.”
The micro-farms start at one-third of an acre.
Ohio State contributed $160,000 for the pilot.
Curtis plans to apply for a $2 million grant from the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research.
