From vacant to vibrant – re-imagining Cleveland

Vision to reuse decaying inner-city land for urban farms, gardens takes shape; advocates see potential for self-sustaining industry

By Kathy Aimes Carr
Crain’s Cleveland Business
May 10, 2010

Picture this: Cleveland’s landscape reinvigorated with life in the form of urban farms and market gardens. It may be a long way off, but the idealistic vision for the city slowly is taking root as farmers and other entrepreneurs reuse vacant land and parking lots for urban agricultural initiatives.

Some of the projects are modest in scope, but advocates say that this industry, though still in its infancy, has the potential to become over the next couple of decades a viable sector with locally based urban growers, sellers and distributors cultivating a self-sustaining region.

“The local food industry, of which urban agriculture is a part, is experiencing double-digit growth,” said Brad Whitehead, president of the Fund for Our Economic Future. “The great thing about urban agriculture is that it goes beyond business. It unites the rural and urban areas, and we realize a common destiny.”

Last June, the Fund invested $250,000 into the Ag-Bio Cluster Initiative, a network of Northeast Ohio community leaders, officials and other advocates that works to advance the local food industry.

In a similar vein, the nonprofit community developer Neighborhood Progress Inc. is evaluating the potential for urban agriculture through a series of Cleveland-area projects, said Bobbi Reichtell, senior vice president for programs.

According to Ms. Reichtell, residents within the 16-county Northeast Ohio region consume about $8 billion in food each year, but less than 2% of that consumption is of local food.

“If we could get to 10%, that’s $800 million going back into the local economy,” she said.

Selling a concept

According to Neighborhood Progress, there are 3,300 acres of vacant land and 15,000 vacant buildings within Cleveland’s city limits.

The nonprofit and the city of Cleveland funded this year through a project called Re-Imagining Cleveland the development of 56 pilot projects aimed at repurposing 15 acres of vacant land.

The land reuse projects are expected to be complete by fall. The initiatives will join 175 community gardens and 40 market — or for-profit — gardens currently in Cleveland.

The pilots either improve Cleveland’s green infrastructure, or they are urban agricultural projects such as gardens, orchards and vineyards. Each received between $2,800 and $20,000 in funding, and the entrepreneurs of the urban agricultural projects agreed to commit to their ventures for five years.

Among those initiatives is a two-acre market garden called Central Roots, which was spearheaded by three recent Baldwin-Wallace College graduates.

The organizers hope to have the garden at East 59th Street and Thackeray Avenue operational by June. Although the initial selling season only will run through October, the entrepreneurs already have plans to transform the venture into a year-round operation.

Todd Alexander, a partner in the Central Roots pilot, said urban agriculture not only has economic and environmental benefits but social implications, too.

“The locals are on board,” he said. “We knocked on the doors of Thackeray residents, and they signed letters of support. Urban communities need fresh food, but they don’t always have access to it.”

The Re-Imagining project also has spurred Mansfield Frazier to rethink the use — or lack thereof — of three half-acre lots in the Hough neighborhood.

The Hough resident is using a $15,000 grant to develop The Vineyards of Chateau Hough, and his goal is to build a winery in that area, which is about one mile from the Cleveland Clinic.

Down on the farm

Meanwhile, more residents in the city of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio suburbs are turning to local farmers for produce by becoming members of community supported agriculture programs.

CSAs are composed of community members who pay in advance a certain amount — usually between $500 and $600 a year — to become shareholders of a local farm. In return for the investment, the members receive local produce throughout the growing season, and the upfront cash infusions boost the farm operation.

Although these partnerships are not new concepts, the number of members continues to grow, said Brad Masi, founder of Oberlin-based New Agrarian Center, which helps areas grow local food systems.

There are at least 24 farms throughout Northeast Ohio that participate in the CSAs, of which an estimated 3,000 residents are members.

“They’re great marketing tools for farmers, and there’s the social component too,” Mr. Masi said. “People know where their food is coming from, and they develop relationships with these local farms.”

Even as urban agriculture continues to grow within Northeast Ohio, there are some challenges to converting the region into one with a fully self-sustaining urban agriculture industry, said Darwin Kelsey, executive director of the Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy, which is working to revive vacant farms throughout Northeast Ohio.

“We’re at the beginning of a curve,” he said. “We’re not simply producing new farmers, but new locally owned businesses could develop to facilitate the distribution of food. “

Even though the urban agriculture industry is gaining ground, it likely won’t be a significant income generator for years.

Central Roots’ Mr. Alexander, for example, doesn’t expect to earn any income in the first two years, as any money generated will be reinvested into developing the business.

While Mr. Alexander and his partners, Matthew Pietro and Sarah Sampsell, work other jobs for supplemental income, their goal is to orient Central Roots into a full-time business. They plan within three to five years to sell herbs and produce such as arugula and sprouts that aren’t always readily available. He hopes to eventually sell sauces, salsas and other food lines.

“We see this as an opportunity to create a core business that allows us to have different revenue streams,” Mr. Alexander said.

See Re-imagining Cleveland’s website here.