Our project that is being supported by the Fund for Our Economic Future involves both networking on building the NE Ohio economy around agriculture and biosciences and an inventory of the agricultural resources in the region.  Dr. Krishna Vadrevu and Brian Gwin, along with Katie Myers of the Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy, collaborators at the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, and many others are working on assembling the data.  As a sample of the kind of output we'll be generating, below and attached are a couple of simple anayses of food and energy production potential.  The first shows where commodity crops (feed corn and soybeans) are being grown on soils that could support higher value horticultural or staple food crops. 

NEOfoodcroppotential

The second shows a map of wind power potential, based on topographic features such as ridgelines.

NEO Wind Power Potential, based on topography

I'm sending both to spark your imagination.  If you have specific suggestions for maps or analyses that would help simulate the development of agriculturally based businesses by exposing opportunities in the region, please let us know.  Thanks!

Casey