Ohio History Central says: Lorain County is overwhelmingly rural, with only seven percent of the county deemed to be urban, but most residents earn their livings by working in manufacturing, sales, or service positions. Farming ranks eighth. Some county residents also earn their livings on Lake Erie, working in the city of Lorain’s harbor, sending products across the Great Lakes and around the world. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, steel was a major industry in Lorain County. The county’s average income was approximately 25,700 dollars per person in 1999, with 10.4 percent of the population living in poverty.^[1]

Of course, those statistics have changed in ten years. Today, the median earnings equal  $45,016 for male full-time, year-round workers and $31,566 for female full-time, year-round workers.^[2]

Today Lorain County is the ninth most populous county in Ohio, with a population of 301,993 in 2006. Poverty statistics still look grim for those people today. According to the the 2006 American Community Survey, 10.2% of families and 14% of individuals here live below the poverty level. 7.2% live in extreme poverty, which means they live more than 50% under the federal poverty rate. 6.8% of the population is unemployed. The child poverty rate is 20.8% and 10.3% of children in Lorain County live in extreme poverty. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 12.7% of Ohio households experienced food insecurity between 2004 and 2006. Among African Americans, who make up 8.5% of the county’s population, the poverty rate is 43%, and 62% of African American children live in poverty. The Hispanics and Latinos who account for 6.9% of the population experience a poverty rate of 29.7%., with 42.7% of Latino children living in poverty.^[3]

The recent foreclosure crisis has taken an especially hard toll on Lorain County: according to RealtyTrac, the Cleveland/Lorain/Elyria/Mentor metro area was seventh in the nation in foreclosures in the 3rd quarter of 2007, with a rate of 1 in every 57 homes.^[4]

Lorain County, like much of Northeast Ohio, used to be wetlands, but its first settlers drained the land in order to farm it. This produced uncommonly rich and fertile soil, and agriculture is still important around here. However, many farmers focus on growing hundreds of acres of commodity crops like corn and soybeans to be used in processed foods. The acreage devoted to responsibly growing food for direct human consumption pales in comparison, largely due to the fact that, for the past 30 years or so, such commodity crops have been subsidized by the government, making processed foods much cheaper than whole foods. However, this food is created with the use of synthetic chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides) that rely on oil that comes from across the world. As more farmland is dedicated to growing such crops, the whole foods that do get eaten here can no longer be produced here and so must be imported from California, New Zealand, or Guatemala. This agricultural system is guzzling up the little oil we have left, it is destroying our planet as well as our bodies, and it is taking money from farmers while rewarding giant corporations. But in a place like Lorain County, where the average worker earns an income below the US poverty level and where grocery stores are routinely closing down and moving out of the poorest areas, cheap processed food seems like the only option.^[5]

We want to change this. Fresh, whole foods do not have to be exploitative or expensive. Everyone deserves to eat healthily, in a way that restores nutrients to the Earth and supports communities rather than destroying both. Lorain County has the means to support its own population, and our goal is to employ the best possible practices to feed those who need it most in this community.