CLEVELAND — Cleveland's urban agriculture took center stage Thursday as the deputy secretary of Agriculture at the USDA toured one urban farm in Northeast Ohio.
Rid-All Green Partnership, a Cleveland urban farm, hosted Ohio’s 11th district Congresswoman Shontel Brown and Dr. Jewel Bronaugh, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture at the USDA. The two toured the 18-acre venture, which teaches nutrition, cooking and provides jobs to the community.
“We keep coming up with brand new ideas to incorporate into this farming piece here and health and wellness,” agriculture specialist and educator David Hester said. “You don’t have to have a full acre of land to do it. You can just have a small plot and still feed a family of two.”
While traditional farmers continue to deal with inflation, supply chains and other issues, those at Rid-All told News 5 that because everything they need is all under one roof, they believe this model is a better fit for the future, especially in urban areas.
“It gets the next generation very excited, especially people who come from urban areas who can’t imagine how to produce food in our backyard or in our community,” Bronaugh said. “You can do it inside, you can do it on small plots. You can produce your own food.”
The farm, located on Otter Avenue in Cleveland’s Kinsman neighborhood, began as a little more than an acre farm back in 2010 and has grown to 18 acres since.
“This is a model that has been used across the country on how we can grow healthy foods around the year,” Brown said.
