Youngstown group starts urban farm training facility

A 2.5-acre parcel with a vacant house on Youngstown’s southwest side will be transformed into the city’s first urban farm training facility.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. announced plans today for the property at 820 Canfield Road that the agency named the Iron Roots Urban Farm.

“The YNDC is tackling the challenges of urban blight and decay, and being a catalyst to put into productive use [some of] the 23,000 vacant lots in the city,” said Presley L. Gillespie, the agency’s executive director.

With money from various foundations, YNDC will spend about $120,000 to $140,000 to first plant vegetable and fruit fields, a small orchard, and install a greenhouse, a vegetable chiller for storage, and a solar-power system, said Ian J. Beniston, the agency’s deputy director.

The agency used $45,000 of the money to purchase the property in June from Waiakea Uka Farm Products, a Hilo, Hawaii, farm company that bought the parcel in January 2006 for $48,900 and never did anything with it.

The farm, located in the city’s Idora Neighborhood, will be ready by next spring, Beniston said.

For the complete story, read Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com