Vistula Foundation and United Way of Greater Toledo launch initiative to grow urban agriculture in the region

Newly formed program committee will examine what it takes for urban farms to succeed as businesses in Toledo.

The Vistula Foundation and United Way of Greater Toledo today announced the formation of a program committee to examine the challenges and opportunities of urban agriculture in the Toledo region, with funding support from both organizations.

The committee brings together Andrew Newby, a board member of both the Vistula Foundation and United Way of Greater Toledo; Tom Waggoner, a past United Way board member and former Senior Vice President at The Andersons, Inc. and Scotts Miracle-Gro; and Erin Tupper of United Way of Greater Toledo's community development team.

Toledo has the raw materials of a local food economy — vacant land, people who want to grow, and neighborhoods underserved by the grocery industry — but urban farming efforts here and nationally have struggled to outlast their initial funding. The committee's charge is to understand why, and to identify what training, infrastructure, and market connections would let urban farms in Toledo operate as sustainable businesses rather than short-lived projects.

“Toledo has land, growers, and demand. What we believe it needs is a system that connects them.” said Newby. “This committee exists to figure out what that system has to look like, and then to perhaps even start building it. But there are real challenges in the needs of the community such as the fundamentals like the permitting process, retail opportunity, and the ultimate role that formalized system plays before we have a clear path.”

The committee will spend the coming months investigating models and systems in other communities, learning from existing urban farmers doing the work, performing site visits, research, community conversations, as well as pilot farm modelling. The organizations have agreed to review initial findings by mid 2025.