MEMPHIS, Tenn. –The Mid-South was the center of a very real issue in America, and the world.
How to connect urban areas with locally-grown food.
Representatives from thirty-four countries visited the Bluff City this week to find out what’s working in other places, and how they could implement that here.
Officials said this problem was fueling the obesity epidemic and affecting jobs too.
It`s no secret we love our food here in the south, but understanding where it comes from is a problem plaguing our country.
“We are connected on this river,” Christopher Masingill with the Delta Regional Authority explained. “The Mississippi River is the lifeblood of our economy in the Delta Region.”
Masingill told WREG he fights for the concerns and needs of the farming industry in the delta region.
He explained agriculture not only feeds people, it feeds the economy.
In the form of jobs.
But the industry was suffering and needed help.
That`s why USDA officials from Washington were here to learn, and Lillian Salerno said the farmers know best.
“We know folks have to keep building these rural economies so we can keep feeding our country,” Salerno explained.
Masingill pointed to successful efforts like farmers markets but said we have to do more to deal with the ongoing food deserts across our region.
Poverty was a major player.
“If you don`t have a healthy workforce, guess what? You are not going to land that manufacturing job, or increase your existing workforce is sick,” Masingill argued.
He said educating children was the solution, and efforts like the Kitchen Community that bring learning gardens to Shelby County Schools was a great start.
“We have to start with our young people. We have to build that level of understanding so they can understand how these things are connected,” he said.
Agriculture experts said the real work starts when the conference ends so they can put some of these best practices into motion, and get people back to work.
