Mid-Ohio Farm at NBC4 set to receive grant to support food action plan

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The work to end hunger in a central Ohio community is receiving a big boost soon.

The Franklin County Commissioners are expected to approve a grant Tuesday worth more than $180,000 for the Mid-Ohio Farm at NBC4. The grant will be used to help support the local food system in the Riverview Road neighborhood in alignment with the Columbus and Franklin County local food action plan.

Built right behind the NBC4 studios in 2022, the two-acre plot urban farm is run by the Mid-Ohio Food Collective and has reaped considerable harvests over the past year. In Sept. 2022, the first harvest of leafy greens was collected and distributed to the Riverview neighborhood. This area includes nearly 2,500 people who are either foreign exchange students at Ohio State University, immigrants, or recently naturalized citizens.

It also includes grow towers with an irrigation system containing fertilizer and drips to level the each tower's plant seedlings. At the base of each tower, rooted veggies like beets, radishes, and carrots are growing.

Fast forward a year and the farm now has fruit trees which were planted right as November started and a community garden with raised beds for neighbors to grow produce.