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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.

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."

One of the groups we are working with in Northeast Ohio as part of the Ag-Bio Industry Cluster initiative.

According to a report released last week by the AARP Foundation and the University of Kentucky, food insecurity among older Americans has increased dramatically since 2001. The study said about 10 percent of Ohioans 50 to 59 years old - the youngest of the baby boomers - are considered at risk of hunger. Mid-Ohio, whose business is up 44 percent over the past four years, aims to distribute 6 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables this harvest season, Baumgartner said. By comparison, the food bank provided 10 million pounds of produce all of last year.