Posts By Date

Join OSU Extension Summit County on Monday, October 20, 2025, 12-1 p.m. ET to learn about how to test your soil, including how to collect a soil sample. Urban soils can be a source of food production, environmental resilience, and community beautification. However, the soil may require restoration to provide these benefits. Most urban soils do not have harmful levels of contaminants; however, they should be tested as a precaution. A soil test also gives you information about soil fertility, a great starting point to get growing! OSU Extension Educator Maggie Rivera will discuss why it is important to test our soil, how to take a soil sample, and how to submit it to a lab.

Webinar via Zoom Register at go.osu.edu/howtotesturbansoil

Registration is required for this webinar. This webinar is free. A recording link will be provided to all who register. If you cannot attend on the scheduled day and time, viewing of the recording will be available for 30 days after the live event.

You and your community partners are invited to attend the Harvesting Success: Resources for Urban Growers on October 25, 2025, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

This free one-day event, held by the OSU Urban Ag Team in cooperation with the Cleveland Farm Service Agency, will bring together urban farmers, community leaders and agriculture professionals to share practical knowledge, innovative resources, and local success stories to support urban agriculture in Cleveland and beyond. If you are new to urban agriculture, this is a great opportunity to connect with the local urban ag network. Throughout the event, our keynote and invited speakers will present on five key topics of urban farming, including the path to a successful urban farm, high tunnel production, integrated pest management, marketing, and business management. A panel of experienced urban farmers will share their practical strategies in overcoming challenges in urban farming during the lunch and learn session. Representatives from local and state organizations will exhibit resources and services provided specifically for urban producers.

The event will be hosted at the Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) Metropolitan Campus Center (MCC 201) on Saturday, October 25, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Attendance is free and lunch will be provided with registration. Register by October 8: http://go.osu.edu/harvestingsuccess.

Please share this announcement with others who might be interested in this event. 

The Urban Research-Based Action Network (URBAN) has announces its 2026 Fellowship Program, designed to support community-based scholars, graduate students, and early-career faculty who are advancing innovative, justice-oriented teaching practices through community-engaged pedagogy.

This fellowship centers on the transformative potential of pedagogy rooted in culture and informed by location. Fellows will explore ethical frameworks, pedagogical strategies, and institutional challenges related to community-based learning. Monthly virtual meetings will offer opportunities to reflect on readings, share teaching experiences, and workshop syllabi, classroom projects, or other co-constructed pedagogical materials. The fellowship also provides a space to critically examine and navigate institutional barriers that often constrain community-based teaching and learning at all ages.

Fellowship Outcomes May Include:

• Presentation of pedagogical work at the URBAN Summer Institute 2026.
• Participation in a follow-up URBAN webinar to share teaching practices and lessons learned.
• Contribution to a future book volume and/or special issue URBAN Matters focused on community-engaged pedagogy.

Eligibility:
Graduate students and early career faculty from any discipline and community-based scholars. Applicants should be actively engaged in community-based education.

Nomination link. Nominations (self-nominations are ok) due on October 31. 

Urban producers, innovative producers, and other stakeholders are invited to virtually attend a public meeting series for the Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Advisory Committee on Sept. 10, 17, and 24, 2025, from 2-4 p.m. EDT. The meetings are open to the public to join virtually with advance registration. Only one registration is necessary to attend all three meetings. 

Meeting details can be viewed in the Federal Register Notice. Written comments can be submitted via UrbanAgricultureFederalAdvisoryCommittee@usda.gov by Sept. 30 at 11:59 p.m. The agenda items may include, but are not limited to welcome and introductions, administrative matters, presentations from staff, and deliberations for proposed recommendations and plans. USDA will share the meeting agendas between 24 to 48 hours prior to the meeting on the Committee’s webpage.

The Committee is managed by the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production and was established through the 2018 Farm Bill and is part of a broad USDA investment in urban agriculture.

To learn more and register.

Sourced from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service