Ohio Microfarm Project receives $170,000 investment from Schmidt Futures

January 28, 2020

InFACT strengthens its investment in the Ohio Microfarm Project and opens up additional opportunities for Ohio farmers to access wholesale markets with the support of Schmidt Futures

The Ohio Microfarm Project (OMP), an interdisciplinary research project and community investment effort spearheaded by the Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation (InFACT), has received $170,000 of additional support from Schmidt Futures as a follow-up to the first round of the Alliance for the American Dream (AAD) competition last year. These funds will be used to bolster and geographically expand the OMP's aims, in accordance with the AAD's commitment to increasing the net income of middle-class American families in credible and measureable ways.

A portion of the award will augment the investment of the $1.1 million Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR) grant in the Mansfield project, which seeks to understand how developing a cooperative of urban and rural growers can provide economic opportunities in disinvested urban communities. Using these resources, Mansfield community partner, the North End Community Improvement Collaborative (NECIC), will expand the NECIC incubator farming program and invest in infrastructure at their 10-acre urban farmer training site.

The remaining funds will be used to develop the marketing capacity of regional food hub Local Food Connection in the Columbus area. Since 2015, Local Food Connection's mission has been to grow the market for locally grown food by making it as convenient to purchase as the mainstream food supply. Serving primarily Cincinnati and central Kentucky markets, Local Food Connection will use these funds to expand their farmer supplier network and marketing efforts into Central Ohio.

With these investments, InFACT continues to support and examine producer network models that open additional opportunities for Ohio farmers, particularly smaller-scale and beginning farmers, to access wholesale and institutional supply chains. “We are creating a new system that will better serve the needs of both farmers and consumers who are committed to enhancing local economic development for the future,” said InFACT Executive Director Brian Snyder.