Food manufacturing grows at voracious pace in NE Ohio, Valley

Food manufacturing grows at voracious pace in NE Ohio, Valley

By Karl Henkel

khenkel@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Manufacturing has been in the forefront of the Mahoning Valley economic surge.

But there’s a specific type of manufacturing that has contributed growth throughout the Northeast Ohio region: food manufacturing.

Food manufacturing grew at a 25-percent clip in the region from 2000 to 2011 despite two recessions, according to Team NEO, a Cleveland-based nonprofit group that tracks economic data for the 18-county “Cleveland Plus” region.

The counties are Trumbull, Mahoning, Columbiana, Ashtabula, Carroll, Stark, Summit, Portage, Geauga, Lake, Cuyahoga, Medina, Wayne, Lorain, Ashland, Erie, Huron and Richland.

“They are a lot smaller than the other categories of other manufacturing,” said Cleveland-based economist George Zeller. “But people have to eat.”

Food manufacturing, which deals with nondurable goods, are less volatile to economic swings, Zeller said.

Read the full story in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com on Monday.