WKSU Stories

Ohio State Professor Hopes to Expand a Food Sustainability System Throughout Mansfield

Ideastream Public Media | By Lydia Taylor,

Andrew Atkins

Published April 9, 2018 at 5:35 AM EDT

Getting more young people into urban farming is one of the key goals for Countryside Conservancy's new Executive Director, Tracy Emrick

Credit LAURA FONG / WKSU

WKSU

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.

Curtis on benefits of micro-farms in Mansfield

“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.