Toledo/Northwest Ohio : Featured Stories

In late February, Dean Monske was named president and CEO of the Regional Growth Partnership, the Toledo-based nonprofit development corporation that serves northwest Ohio. Since then, Monske -- a former RGP vice president who left for a year to serve as Toledo Mayor Mike Bell's deputy mayor for external relations -- has hit the ground running. Last month, the RGP announced two new field offices in, of all places, China.

Green has always been a popular color in the business world. It's the color of money, after all. But green has new meaning to Ohio's corporate community. It means saving the earth, and what's good for the planet can be good for the bottom line as well.

About one third of the food we eat is either directly or indirectly tied to honeybee crop pollination. Bees are under attack, however, by both manmade and natural forces. To help save them, Ohio beekeepers are breeding stronger queens that can withstand the stress our human lifestyles are placing on them.

There are far windier places in the United State than Ohio, but there may be few better to site a wind farm. Readers, take notice: The wind industry is alive and growing in Ohio.

Since 1995, the Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT) has helped companies involved in some of Ohio's largest and most economically significant industries: food production, processing, packaging. But the center's work reaches all across Ohio's agribusiness universe and it seems no part is left untouched, from research, to local food initiatives to advanced energy. David Beck, CIFT's president and CEO, spoke to us about some of the work CIFT is doing.

Josh LaBonte can make a claim few graduating college students can these days: When he walks through Lorain County Community College's commencement later this month, he has two jobs waiting.

While the image of farmer Brown milking a cow from a stool may linger in the imagination, old Bessie today is more likely to make her way through a sophisticated milking parlor wearing an electronic collar -- not a bell. And while the image of farmer Brown may be one of a humble man in overalls, his world today is one of college degrees, self-steering combines, and use of Twitter and Facebook as a way to connect with other farmers and a hungry population.

Ohio has a monumental stake in what happens to Lake Erie. Invasive species, algal blooms, chemical runoff and climate change all have the potential to stagger the economic engine that generates thousands of Ohio jobs. Since 1978, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has turned to Ohio State University -- which operates one of 30 Sea Grant College Programs around the country -- for some of the answers to Erie's most pressing problems. hiVelocity asked Program Director Dr. Jeffrey M. Reutter about the role the OSU Sea Grant Program plays in Ohio's economy.