COLUMBIA — When it comes to fighting food insecurity, local organizations in Colombia are growing back to their roots.
“We’ve had one person who came to one of our staff members and said, Thank you for opening your garden up so that I could come and harvest at any time. I didn’t have food, and I was able to harvest a tomato, and that was all I had to eat yesterday,” said MU Extension professor Jo Britt-Rankin.
MU Extension’s Jefferson Farm and Garden Center seeks to reach communities in need of nutritional support by providing produce to gardens maintained by community members in low-income and agency-funded areas.
“We’re going to produce about 30,000 bedding plants that will go out to community gardens across the state this year to help in various community gardens as we look to help increase food security across the state,” said Britt-Rankin.
Not only is this farm fueling over 900 community gardens across the state, but it’s also teaching families how to form new habits. Britt-Rankin shared a memory from a student who convinced their family to start a garden after being exposed to their school’s community garden.
“The parents reported they were able to have, but they did not purchase produce for three months,” said Britt-Rankin.
Because food insecurity is about access…Beating the spread starts at home.
“When I was younger, we were always taught if we needed our lettuce, tomatoes, different things like that, all your parents had to say was, go in the backyard, let me have your, go get your tomatoes or lettuce or onions to make your cucumber salad. Or go out and get your lettuce and tomatoes and put them on a sandwich. And that way, you wouldn’t have to go to the grocery store to get some of these things that you need. And right now, where the prices are high, it’s best to go to your garden and get the things that you need,” said Ms. Hayes, a member of the Opportunity Gardens Program.
Columbia’s Center for Urban Agriculture Opportunity Gardens program for low-income residents is another example in which gardening is aiding in food supplementation and building community.
“They help you out on your first three years, and then you graduate, and then they’ll help you then once you graduate. The prices are going up. It’s not good to not know the difference because you want to have a good garden and be able to feed yourself. Or be able to give it to someone else so they can eat as well,” said Hayes.
Both programs go to show that one push of support can go a long way.
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