Comment on Cincinnati’s Community Garden Program by Claude Henderson III

Hey there guys! My name is Claude Henderson, and I’m someone who is increasingly interested in bringing the advantages of Vertical Farming to Cincinnati in a MAJOR way.
I was introduced to this idea years ago thanks to my ever-activist brother, Dan, in an indirect way; he introduced me to The Venus Project and Zeitgeist Movement. From there I began to shed my cultural conditioning of resource supply, availability, and methods of distribution. I was vaguely aware of the notion of limited resources due to disproportionate distribution, but became incrementally aware of it the more I delved into finding solutions for so many of the social problems facing us today. Problems that are inevitable results of a system like capitalism (planned obsolescence, brand-name loyalty, etc).
This is where you guys come in. You obviously have more experience with me in this field of farming (urban, community, or otherwise), and I would like to elicit your help in making what I believe both our dreams to be: providing food in a sustainable, economic, and trust-worthy way to the citizens of every community. When I see that Chicago has the largest indoor farm in the US, FarmedHere, I say “Why not Cincinnati, too?”
What could I bring to the table? Well, I hope this correspondence with you is evidence for at least one thing: I can bring people together. I’ve been researching a lot of the companies and methods for which people attempt to implement this historical change in agricultural techniques, and for even the most well-meaning patriots, I feel that there is something lacking in the approach. First, I believe that we are still looking at this with much too capitalistic eudemonia. Of course, the world still runs on money, but I feel that with an aggressive crowd-funding campaign, investors also interested in social change (Foster Gamble, perhaps to start), appealing to Universities for their eager students (ie: engineering, sociology), and holding teaching sessions we could build an economic base and start to shift a paradigm that would have seemed impossible just 30 years ago.
I would also like to see more collaboration and cooperation amongst the organizations. We didn’t become the dominating species on this planet by constantly competing with each other. Working together solves way more problems much faster than going it alone. Two heads are still better than one, right?
The ultimate goal, in my eyes, would be to have a self-sustaining farm in which we could actually give away all of our product to any household (restaurants and corporations excluded) free of charge. We would also educate the public (as Civic Garden Center of Cincinnati currently does), furthering the excitement for bringing “organic” food back to the moniker of just “food”.
Finally, I understand that this may all seem like the naive pipe dream of a madman, but then again, what fundamental change in human history wasn’t?
If anyone who is interested in this would like to contact me, my e-mail is ClaudeHendersoniii@yahoo.com.
I anxiously look forward to all inquiries about this, and hope that we can make a major step forward by the end of 2016!