The Microfarm Project began with making the business of sustainable urban farming accessible, equitable, and profitable by leveraging the knowledge and science of the land grant university to grow cooperative businesses, make microfarming profitable, train new microfarmers, address racial and social justice by creating access to microfarming opportunity, study the impacts of microfarming on the surrounding community and ecosystems, and connect students to knowledge, research, and service opportunities in and around microfarming. Since 2017, 91µ¼º½ Associate Professor Kip Curtis has been building partnerships and recruiting collaborators to pilot a microfarming system in Mansfield, Ohio. Since 2019, 91µ¼º½, The North End Community Improvement Collaborative, IdeaWorks, Braintree Business Solutions, and The Richland County Foundation, along with a dozen aspirational microfarmers from Mansfield and Richland County, have been piloting the first microfarm aggregation system with the support of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture’s Seeding Solutions grant program. In 2020, with the support of the Office of Outreach and Engagement, Dr. Curtis, and Catherine Gerber, Director of Development and Community Relations, began conversations with community leaders and others in Marion about expanding this program to Marion. Since then, Marion implemented an adult microfarm training program to train adults to manage their own microfarms. After training several adults, some of which started their own microfarm, with one being implemented at River Valley high school, which uses that produce in their cafeteria, the project shifted.
The focus of the project pivoted to agricultural education in elementary schools and has since had a presence in all the Marion area elementary schools. Grace Hand, Marion Microfarm Coordinator, works with teachers through OSU Extension’s Growing Teachers Throughout the Seasons (GTS). Teachers take their own creative approaches to incorporate agricultural education in their classrooms and highlight ag related children’s literature, plant seeds in their classrooms, teach children how to make their own ice cream, and how to hatch chicks! They also take field trips to the Marion Microfarm, located at Harding High School, and participate in Farm Camps held in the summer. Students there learn about planting and harvesting, making butter, learn about bee keeping and the art of homesteading and much more!
Check out the full video playlist at the bottom of this page to learn more about urban agriculture and the opportunities microfarming can bring to your local community.