It’s ironic that Americans with the least look like those who can afford to eat the most.

That’s not because the poor have too much food, it’s because they tend to eat the wrong kinds of food, claims Tana Schiewer, executive director of Food For Thought, an Oregon-based food pantry.

“It’s interesting that the hallmark of poverty now is obesity rather than being too skinny. That is because the food we have available, mostly through pantries, are manufactured foods, not actually food-foods. They don’t normally provide a lot of nutrition but they do provide lots of fat and empty calories,” she explained.

This should concern all of us as we bear the health care costs associated with obesity—high blood pressure, Type II Diabetes, heart disease and some forms of cancer.

To better serve this area’s poor, Food for Thought, as well as seven other organizations, are experimenting with a high-density, vertical growing system which provides pantries with fresh vegetables.

The system, manufactured by Verti-Gro of Florida, allows plants to grow without soil in vertically hung pots. The hydroponic system uses a coconut-potting medium to maintain the root base, a water-nutrient mix to feed the plant and marigolds to deter insects, says Rebecca Singer, vice president and director of agricultural programs for the Center for Innovative Food Technology, the program’s coordinator.

The advantages over conventional farming are many. Singer said it takes eight acres of land to grow what the system grows in one acre, weeding is not required as soil is not used, harvesting can be done without bending and  the pots swivel for easy access.

In addition, Schiewer said, she can supply the poor a better vegetable on a more consistent basis rather than relying on produce donated by a farm or a grocer, which tends to be over-ripe and close to going bad.

Vegetables that grow well hydroponically are lettuce, green beans, celery, peppers, zucchini, squash, eggplant, herbs and tomatoes. Root crops such as potatoes and carrots do not.

Food for Thought partnered last year with Clay High School whose students logged 82 hours of volunteer labor and harvested 436 pounds of vegetables in the first year. The goal this year is 1,500 pounds, Schiewer said.

Linda Rossler, a Clay teacher and head gardener, said last year’s yield was due to a late June start waiting for the system to be delivered. She is currently looking for grants to house the system in a greenhouse to provide an extended growing year.

Food for Thought, which operates a pantry inside New Harvest Christian Church, as well as a mobile pantry, serves between 1,100 and 1,400 families a month, Schiewer said. Its growing system at Clay is one of two in Northwest Ohio. The other is located at Flower Hospital in Sylvania. Both have the capacity for 2,100 plants.

At Flower, seven social service agencies pooled together to purchase the system for $6,100, Singer said.

Stephanie Cihon, community relations director for ProMedica Health Systems, offered the site and monitoring services to the Center for Innovative Food Technology because the program complimented its Fields of Green initiative, a ProMedica program to encourage healthier lifestyles.

Cihon said the fresh vegetables are used in the cafeteria and the rest divided among the Toledo Seagate Food Bank, Aurora Gonzales Family Resource Center, Eleanor Kahle Senior Center, Ella P. Stewart Academy for Girls, Toledo Lucas County Health Department and Toledo Area Ministries.

Problems encountered in the first two years, according to Singer, include a lack of sufficient volunteers to harvest produce in a timely manner, some tomatoes get too heavy for the pot and the unit needs to be dismantled and stored indoors for the winter.

While both the Flower and Clay systems can accommodate 2,100 pots, Singer says the smallest system has 64 pots and sells for under $400, which would make it affordable for senior centers, neighborhood groups and homeowners.

The Verti-Gro system was developed by Tim Carpenter, son of a Georgia sharecropper, in 1996 and became a partner with EPCOT in 1997.

For more go to vertigro.com or call Rebecca Singer at 419-213-4168. Comment at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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