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An Indiana University study that looked at consumers who buy locally grown and produced foods through farmer's markets and community-supported agriculture programs found the venues largely attract a "privileged" class of shoppers.

Ohio still has too few farmers markets and community agriculture ventures to serve its population, according to a recent index developed by Strolling of the Heifers, a nonprofit organization in Vermont that is trying to save family farms.

Two years ago, Forbes predicted that by the year 2018, 20 percent of the food consumed in U.S. cities will be grown in places like this. It's safe to say that's almost certainly not going to happen. Right now, urban-grown produce represents a minuscule slice of the food system. But there are several plausible scenarios that could make such food more commonplace in the city kitchen of the future. Several of these scenarios are growing more likely by the day. If energy prices spike, your average grapefruit's 1,500-mile journey to your fridge could make local food seem cheaper by comparison. Droughts are becoming more common, and soil-free hydroponic agriculture uses a fraction of the water of conventional farming and can easily be set up in urban environments. And there's always the unforeseen Black Swan event: World War II "victory gardens" made urban farming a temporary reality for millions in the early 1940s.

Heritage Lawn Mowing "As an uncertain economy and a stagnant hiring climate continue to freeze people out of the traditional job market, a number of entrepreneurs like Miller, many of them in their 20s and 30s, are heading back to the land, starting small agricultural businesses. And in the process, they are discovering that modern homesteading offers more rewarding work, and possibly more security, than entering the white-collar fray."

Farmers markets have grown in popularity as the consumer demand for locally grown and produced foods has grown, said Lori Panda, who runs the Ohio Proud program of the Ohio Department of Agriculture. The program oversees the state's more than 1,000 farmers markets. In comparison, 600 were listed with the department in 2006, Panda said. As their numbers increase, farmers markets are popping up in not-so traditional locations. "The markets are opening in places like Easton because it has a ready-built clientele," Panda said. "It's not surprising, considering the growing interest of consumers who want more options for local foods, want to support the local economy, and, because of food-safety concerns, want to know who is growing their foods. It just makes sense that farmers want to go where the people are."

SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. - For all the talk about sustainable agriculture, most small farms are not self-sustaining in a very basic sense: they can't make ends meet financially without relying on income from jobs off the farm. But increasingly farmers are eking more money out of the land in ways beyond the traditional route of planting crops and raising livestock. Some have opened bed-and-breakfasts, often known as farm stays, that draw guests eager to get a taste of rural living. Others operate corn mazes - now jazzed up with modern fillips like maps on cellphones - that often turn into seasonal amusements, with rope courses and zip lines. Ranchers open their land to hunters or bring in guests to ride horses, dude ranch style. Known as agritourism, such activities are becoming an important economic boost for many farmers.