FAQ

  • SLIDES USED FOR PRESENTATION FEBRUARY 15
  • How will this be funded? The Center for Food Innovation, a 501c3 nonprofit, will oversee the entire project to ensure the vision is fully realized, but it is contracting with fore-profit established developers for different parts of the development who are able to fund their portion in the same way they would do any other project. For example there will be a mixed-income housing developer for the residential area; an industrial developer for the controlled environment agriculture farms, cold storage, food processing areas; a retail developer for the restaurant, farm market areas. We do expect there will be some local and government funding support, but it will be a very small portion of the overall funding. This project also qualifies for many federal grants from organizations like USDA, EDA, EPA, and others that will support the renewable energy, water reclamation, education/training, new job creation and much more.
  • How will this impact existing farmers? Our first and foremost goal is to support our existing farmers. You are the front line for this project. If the Lorain County Port Authority chooses our project – and once the contract is completed – we will be convening the food community to start mapping all the ways that the Center for Food Innovation can support the financial growth of our existing farmers. We have ideas – like the Farm Market at The GARDEN where farmers would have a year-round sales location for their value-add products like cheese, baked goods, butchered meats, sauces and more…but we will only activate these ideas if the farm community sees the value. HERE are current stats on Lorain County Farmer Earnings and crops
  • What is a Controled Environment Agriculture farm (CEA)? This is an umbrella name for any form of farming where you control the environment and are able to grow foods on a year-round basis. This can be greenhouses or verticle farms. It can be in soil, hydroponic, aquaponic, aeroponic or some version of combined systems. The Center for Food Innovation is agnostic when it comes to the form of CEA. Our goal is to support our farmers in all ways – in the field or in any form of CEA farming and to be able to expand the volume of product produced on a year-round basis in aggrigate so the region can support larger collective purchaser contracts.
  • What products are you focused on? We are focusing on Produce – those foods found in the produce section of the grocery story. We are not focused on large field commodity crops like corn, wheat, soybean ect.
  • Why are you doing this? First and foremost we are looking to expand jobs and increase the number of business owners within the food ecosystem. Because of increasing changes in the national and global produce food production and distribution systems, Lorain County has an opportunity to develop a robust food production industry to meet the existing demand and to become a show-piece for the nation.
  • How will education partners particate? They will participate in two ways – 1. TRAINING: The GARDEN will work with our community colleges, public and private universities to develop certificate programs that augment the degrees these institutions offer in worker training, speciality engineering, businesses specialization and more. 2. RESEARCH: This is a growth industry and we have some of the most esteemed research institutions in the country. We will be partnering with these instutions to further research in methods, technology, biology and more.