Food, Ag, Equity Conference links local farmers, consumers

ALBANY — If Southwest Georgia is truly experiencing an upward trend in agriculture and locally grown food, what can be done to ensure access to healthy, affordable food in underserved neighborhoods?

That’s one of the questions being asked by staff of the Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education as they prepare to host their second annual Food, Ag and Equity Conference, scheduled to take place Nov. 2-3 at the downtown Albany Hilton Garden Inn.

“Consumers are troubled. As the U.S. food system becomes global, issues of food safety, genetically modified crops, exploited farm workers and even rates of cancers are raising concerns for consumers,” Amber M. Bell, who serves as program director for the Southwest Georgia Project, said. “Farmers are struggling. Family farmers are no longer the voice of agriculture, as corporations have flooded the industry for profit, leaving family-owned farms out of markets and money.”

Bell is a 2010 graduate of Armstrong Atlantic State University and went from there to Georgia Southern University, where she received a master’s in Public Health from the Jiann Ping Hsu College of Public Health. While at Georgia Southern, she served as research assistant and project coordinator of the CHANGES Project for the Rural Health Research Institute. Bell joined the Georgia Project in 2013 as project coordinator and in 2015 was selected as a 2015-2016 Maya Wiley Fellow.

The Maya Wiley Fellowship program celebrates and supports grassroots leaders seeking to achieve racial equity through structurally transformative policy strategies and campaigns.

Shirley Sherrod is co-founder and executive director of the Southwest Georgia Project. She is a graduate of Albany State University with a degree in sociology and has a master’s degree in Community Development from Antioch University. Sherrod is a former Georgia state director of Rural Development for the United States Department of Agriculture. Sherrod currently serves on the boards of the Rural Advancement Foundation International, the Rural Development Leadership Network and the Albany Chamber of Commerce.​

​The Food, Ag and Equity Conference, which will begin at 4 p.m. on Thursday and at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, centers on the development of a sustainable food system and on sustainable agriculture. It will bring farmers, consumers, elected officials and other stakeholders together to discuss new opportunities in agriculture, economic development, and local food production and consumption.

Last year, 200 attended the first Food, Ag and Equity Conference.

“We’ll have workshops for farmers on aquaponics, USDA programs and farm financing,” Bell said. “For consumers, there will be workshops on credit repair and a dietitian who will talk about the Netflix film ‘What the Health,’ a controversial film about where we get our food.”

Bell said that the goals of the conference are to promote local growers, sustainable agriculture and to ensure access to healthy, affordable food in underserved neighborhoods by shifting to a local/regional food system, while building awareness on the foods we eat and the impacts they have on our environment and our bodies.

There will also be a session on home and community gardens.

“Right now, a lot of people are taking interest in growing their own fruits and vegetables,” Bell said.

As for community gardens, Bell said that the Dougherty County School System currently has 12 elementary schools with their own gardens. Girls Inc. of Albany and the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce’s Strive2Thrive also have gardens, she said.

“We hope and expect to see more community gardens,” Bell said.

The Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education has been instrumental in launching a movement among area growers and consumers to work together to promote healthy food.

“It’s often called the ‘Good Food Movement,’” Bell said.

“The Southwest Georgia Project is working to develop a community food hub in Albany. The hub will serve as a warehouse and distribution center where farmers can bring in their produce to then be distributed to grocers and other outlets,” Bell said. “We want to get locally grown healthy food products out to consumers.”

Bell also spoke of pop-up food markets and other ways to help local farmers have better access to markets.

The organization currently has a grant for community education and has purchased a building in Albany that will become the future ag hub location. They are now seeking funds to renovate that building.

“We hope to have everything up and running by December 2018 or early 2019,” said Bell.

Currently the group is working with 106 farmers in 14 Southwest Georgia counties.

The second annual Food, Ag and Equity Conference will kick off with a fresh food mixer on Nov. 2 at 4 p.m. The keynote address will be delivered at 6:30 p.m. On Friday, workshops begin at 8:30 a.m. with a quick, low-impact aerobics session. Presentations include “Hydroponics and Aquaponics,” “How to Eat Healthy,” “Be Healthy,” “Farming as a Business,” “Home and Community Gardens” and more. For more information, call (229) 430-9870 or visit www.swgaproject.com.