Who We Are

Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy (CVCC) is a private, non-profit corporation, chartered in Ohio, and headquartered in the Cuyahoga Valley between Cleveland and Akron. CVCC is a small think-and-do tank working to re-envision and rebuild local-regional farming and food systems in Northeast Ohio – systems purposefully designed to reconnect food in the public’s mind to farming and land, to community and nature.

What We Do

As 2006 begins, CVCC has five interrelated initiatives in various stages of development. The CVNP Farming Initiative and the Farmers’ Markets Initiative are becoming well established, and are each gaining momentum. Our Public Education Initiative will be significantly upgraded and diversified in 2006. And two new sets of programs begin planning and implementation in 2006-07: New Farmers Initiative and Local FoodWorks Initiative.

CVNP Farming Initiative
This is an ambitious and innovative stewardship program, unique in America. CVCC was established in 1999 to help Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) halt and reverse the rapid disappearance of farming in the Cuyahoga Valley – and the related deterioration of picturesque old farms now in the park’s care. Some 20 or so farms in the park will be physically rehabilitated, publicly offered for long-term leasing, and managed for modern sustainable farming. Seven farms will be operational by 2006. Originally, this program was (and commonly still is) referred to as the Countryside Initiative. Originally, the name was also used as an umbrella term for anticipated future programs which are now treated as distinct initiatives in their own right.

Farmers’ Markets Initiative
CVCC opened its first seasonal, producers only farmers’ market in Peninsula in 2004 – the first and only such market in a National Park in North America. A second market was established in downtown Akron in 2005. Approximately 30 farmers and food vendors from Northeast Ohio participate in each market.

Public Education Initiative
CVCC continues to develop projects, programs and venues intended to begin rebuilding a basic cultural understanding that personal food choices affect where and how it is grown – which in turn profoundly affect personal health, human communities, and the natural environment. Education programs and venues include: CVCC’s website, farmers’ market cooking demos, future cooking school collaborations, reading and discussion groups, farm tours, and food festivals.

New Farmers Initiative
Rebuilding local farming and food systems is utterly dependent on developing a new generation of farmers – most of whom will have had little if any prior farming experience. In 2006 CVCC begins serious efforts to nudge this complex, long-term process forward by offering a farm business short course; by beginning planning for a “farmer incubator” (50+/– mini farms, on 300+/– acres, over the next 5-10 years); and by a variety of apprenticeships and internships.

Local FoodWorks Initiative
In 2006 CVCC will begin developing a package of problem solving tools and resources to encourage local food enterprises. They include: (1) a comprehensive guide to locally grown and produced foods in Northeast Ohio, (2) a guide to certified commercial kitchen facilities in Northeast Ohio available for use/rent, (3) a regulatory guide clarifying and interpreting state and local food regulations, (4) local food entrepreneur workshops, and (5) an on-line local food marketing database.

Why It Matters

The Countryside is a food artifact. It is created—sculpted—by the act, the process, of farming. What people choose to eat, consciously or unconsciously, determines where and how it is grown – and hence what the world looks like. When local people choose to eat locally grown food, local farms prosper, local communities diversify and thrive, and rural landscapes refuse to go away. There is simply nothing else ordinary people can do in the course of their daily lives which will so profoundly and positively affect their communities and the environment.