Being born and raised in Toledo Ohio I have come to learn many things Toledo has to offer.  A growing Downtown Warehouse District has been one exciting aspect I hear many people talk about when the mention Toledo. Businesses continue to open up. Restaurants and drinkeries alike. I have watched the downtown residential population continue to increase which again sprout even more service style businesses. Party in the Park, a long time tradition has made a comeback on Fridays with it’s new location called Hensville which is an entertainment complex fairly new to Downtown Toledo.

With all the great things happening in Downtown Toledo I have also noticed a sever decline in good paying jobs. I see more and more empty factories which is quite disturbing as North West Ohio is a manufacturing community. We thrive on making things, building things. That’s what we do here, right? Well it does not seem this way any longer as again the many buildings which housed thousands of jobs have dissipated into dilapidated rodent infested homes.

The big question is “How can we save Toledo?”. Well myself, being the outside the box thinker I am, I bring you MY thoughts on what we can do to at the very least help the issue from continuing to plummet. HEMP! The other green plant!

Hemp is a very versatile crop. With well over 40,000 products able to be made from the amazing plant it is a no-brainer for a manufacturing community such as North West Ohio to embrace. I vision factories full of workers again creating several different economic benefits including more tax revenue for the community at stake.

Factory jobs are only the beginning as I see many other jobs being created as well. With the Toledo water ports having access to international waters it would stimulate an economic benefit as well in the shipping industry. Jobs could be created from port workers to truck drivers. Throw in Toledo’s comprehensive rail system, complex interchangeable highways (when not under construction) as well as Toledo Express Airport you have the complete package for an all around full economic benefit which thousands of cities across the United States will never see.

Then what about the production of materials needed? Where would all the material come from to sustain such a revolution you ask? LOCAL FARMERS is my simple two word answer to that. North West Ohio not only is a manufacturing community is also a great sustaining farming as well. The farmland is of abundance. Unfortunately it is over run by corn production. Corn which will never even be consumed, not that eating corn has any nutritional value to it. So why continue to grow it? Industrial hemp has huge nutritional value. Corn needs heavy amounts of nutrients as well as dangerous pesticides. Hemp needs very little, if any, of these products. With less pesticides and nutrients being administrated I would believe we would begin to see less of a runoff into our streams, rivers and lakes where in the long run we may see less of an algae bloom outbreak.

Can hemp save Toledo? Absolutely, from seed to need!