Increasing Food Access

- [Anita] Coming up on ncIMPACT.

- When prices is still rising, it's hard for people to be able to pay for the things that they need.

- [Narrator] Rising food prices are pushing many into food insecurity.

We'll find out how communities are helping people access good, affordable food.

This is ncIMPACT.

- [Narrator] ncIMPACT is a PBS North Carolina Production in association with the University of North Carolina School of Government.

Funding for ncIMPACT is made possible by.

- [Narrator 3] Changing the course of people's lives, that's the impact UNC Health and the UNC School of Medicine work to deliver every day.

Our 40,000 team members across the state of North Carolina are committed to caring for you, our patients and communities, as well as educating the next generation of healthcare professionals.

Individually, we can do a little, but collectively, we can do a lot to create impact.

- Welcome to ncIMPACT.

I'm Anita Brown-Graham.

It's estimated that more than one million North Carolinians live in food deserts.

These are neighborhoods with limited access to affordable and nutritious food.

Access, in many areas, is now even more limited as a result of food supply chain struggles.

ncIMPACT's David Hurst joins us with those details.

- Angela Caraway is the Founder and Executive Director of the Caraway Foundation.

It's a nonprofit based in Anson County.

Angela used to live in Wake County and she says she took for granted her easy access to all sorts of food because when she moved back home to Anson County during the pandemic, she was shocked by the lack of fresh, affordable food available.

- Okay, Karen, this has the eggs and the meat in there.

- [David] It's Wednesday morning in Anson County.

That means dozens are lining up to get free fresh produce boxes.

- All right, you're welcome.

- [David] Heading up the operations is Angela Caraway.

Her nonprofit has traditionally focused on education, but during the pandemic, Caraway saw another urgent need.

- We're just trying to do our part in helping to ease the burden on families.

I have your eggs back here too as well, okay?

- [David] That burden is not being able to access fresh, affordable food.

It affects more than one in five people in Anson County, a rural tier one community with only two grocery stores.

Residents say those two stores often lack fresh produce options.

- You can find it, but it's expensive.

And this has really been a big help, especially to the older people.

- [David] Each family that comes through the pickup line gets a fresh produce box with some meat, eggs, and fruits and vegetables.

- Hey, how you doing?

- [David] The giveaways are a partnership between the Caraway Foundation, Atrium Health Anson, as well as local towns and churches.

It's been a huge help as many families have watched food prices rise as a result of supply chain challenges and inflation.

- And we are a county that is high in unemployment.

The annual income is low here, so when prices is still rising, it's hard for people to be able to pay for the things that they need.

- [David] For many families in Anson County, they end up having to turn to the food they can afford an access at fast food restaurants.

- Here in Anson County, we have really high rates of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes.

And so when you can't have fresh, healthy foods, we're just perpetuating the cycle of chronic disease.

- You come this way.

- [David] It's why Caraway says these boxes are more than just about healthier meals.

They're leading to healthier lifestyles.

- I wanted us to be, this county to be healthy, and we were on the list of one of the most unhealthiest counties in the state.

And that's not something I wanna brag about 'cause I brag about Anson County.

I love Anson County.

- Guys, we are here to be a blessing to someone else.

- [David] It's a love that many feel every Wednesday morning.

- We are grateful for everything that you do for us.

We appreciate it.

- Because for Caraway, she wants to give more than just a healthy meal, but also give hope for a healthier future.

The Caraway Foundation was able to give away these boxes thanks to funding from the US Department of Agriculture's Farmers to Family Program.

That program has ended, but Caraway says that isn't gonna stop her and her partners from working to bring fresh, affordable food to their community.

- Thank you for that, David.

Joining me now is Ron Pringle.

Ron is the CEO of the Interfaith Food Shuttle.

So Ron, everybody knows that the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on supply chains for our food systems.

Where do we stand right now?

What's the landscape today?

- Well, first, Anita, thank you so much for having me.

I was just listening to the story there and what's happening in Anson County is what we've been seeing across our service area, across the state of North Carolina.

The supply chain just interrupted everyone's day-to-day life, so I don't think people really understood the term supply chain and what it meant until COVID interrupt it all.

And we had a chance to see just how many things were connected to this what we call the supply chain, and food being the major thing that impacted everyone.

So not being able to have access, not having truckers on the road, not having manufacturers open to produce this food just started this ripple effect that we're still seeing continue today.

- And so you say we're still seeing it continue today, but it's important for us to also recognize that while the pandemic made things worse, food deserts are not new in our state.

How do we get there in the first place?

How did so many North Carolinians end up living in places where they don't have access to good affordable food?

- Yeah, food deserts are not new.

These are things that have been around and issues that food banks have been addressing for many, many, many years.

But as towns and small communities develop and begin to push individuals further out in the rural communities, those rural communities aren't developing at the same pace as many of the inner city elements there.

And so the things that are happening out there, with the convenience of having an inner city there, it's driving away those industries.

So we don't see the grocery stores in those rural communities anymore.

We don't see that food access and availability there.

The small farms that were once prominent in the community, we're seeing those begin to dwindle.

So everything about the natural supply chain and food source within a local community, it's changing.

- Ron, should we expect to see food prices get better in 2023?

- Well, I think what we've seen, the work that's been happening with so many social organizations stepping in, and filling a gap, and beginning to introduce some new innovations, I do see it getting better.

I see it improving and I see it getting back to a way where communities are beginning to do more with taking care of communities.

- Hmm.

Access to fresh and nutritious food can especially be a challenge for those living in rural communities.

ncIMPACT's Evan Howell visited Boone to see how a group of people came up with an idea to bring farmers and customers together and create a social network around food.

[people chattering] - [Evan] Sam Springs wants to strengthen her community using healthy food.

- We see the same people every week at our locations.

Friends will run into each other and say, "Hey I haven't seen you.

How have you been?"

- [Evan] Springs is with the High Country Food Hub of Boone, an online farmer's market run by the nonprofit Blue Ridge Women of Agriculture which started with an idea and a walk-in freezer in 2016.

- They started out as a group of women farmers who were unable to find a lot of good support in the community for what they were doing.

So they got together and said, "Let's share skills.

Let's put all of this together."

- [Evan] The Food Hub connects local farmers and their produce with local customers.

It sources from more than 70 producers.

During the pandemic, the hub gained popularity as more people stayed home rather than visit their local farmer's market.

- Most of our customers don't live in Boone.

A lot of them don't even live in Watauga County.

So we service Ash County, Avery County, we've got some people out in Caldwell, we have people in Wilkes County that come and pick up at some of our locations.

- [Evan] The organization began setting up satellite hubs and pickup locations supported by donations and grants from organizations including the Golden Leaf Foundation and Second Harvest Food Bank.

A hub was added in 2021 at the Ash County Library to extend their reach to more rural communities.

- We were really excited to partner with the Food Hub because it helps us meet a lot of our goals of serving the community.

We feel like it's a great use of our space here.

It's a great resource that we can offer to our patrons and the rest of the community.

- [Evan] One way the Hub provides better access is through the Double Up Food Bucks program.

Double Up cuts prices in half for those who use federal nutrition assistance.

- This has always been a place with a sense of community.

The high country is very close-knit.

And it's just wonderful to see everybody coming together.

- [Evan] Springs says for several farmers, the hub was their first experience in direct sales.

And for customers, that means now finding over 3,000 products to choose from.

- So we're able to put local food on local tables and local food is healthier, it tastes better, it lasts longer in your refrigerator.

- [Evan] The network has grown since it was launched with sales reaching more than two million dollars by 2022.

They say community support and partnerships have been key to the growing network today using food as a tool for a stronger and healthier community.

For ncIMPACT, I'm Evan Howell.

- Thank you, Evan.

Joining me now is Roland McReynolds.

Roland is the Executive Director of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association.

Roland, thanks for being here.

We just saw a very interesting partnership.

What's the benefit of directly connecting farmers to customers?

- Yeah.

Thanks very much for having me here, Anita.

And yes, the examples of what's going on with the High Country Food Hub is a great example of why it is so important for communities in our state to embrace local farms and local food systems.

When people appreciate and get a chance to see the high quality healthy food that can be produced by local farms, and when they start to understand the value that that creates in their communities in terms of jobs, and increases of employment, and economic activity, and relationship development, they start to see and connect the dots between the investments that they make every day with their food dollars and the communities and the health of the communities in which we live.

Every time we make a choice to purchase food, we are investing in a food supply chain.

And so when we make the choice to invest in a local food supply chain, whether that's as individual households, as businesses, as government, as philanthropists, when we are doing that, we are promoting the health of the whole community, including own families.

- I love that.

And it strikes me that in some ways, we're also creating much more resiliency in our systems so that if we face the same kinds of disruptions we had in COVID-19, we might not face the same kind of impacts.

So given that, what are some other community-based innovations or solutions across the state that you see really helping to improve food access?

- Yeah.

Well, the High Country Food Hub's program is a great example of a community-based innovation that's happening.

And High Country Food Hub is actually a participating food hub in a network that Carolina Farm Stewardship Association has been operating since the start of the COVID pandemic, a program we call Farm Share.

Through this program, which initially funded with support from Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of North Carolina, we are able to provide funding to food hubs for them to purchase food from small farms in their communities at a fair price, at a price that the small farm can afford, and then distribute that food for free to food-insecure households in their own communities.

It's a great example of how grassroots organizations can collaborate and really build on their internal resources of resilience to strengthen their communities, and to improve the health of communities, and support farmers to protect the farmland and the resources on which we all depend.

- Lovely.

Stay with us.

We're gonna come back to you in a second.

We want to talk about what the challenges confronting us are.

Union County is one of the largest agricultural producers in our entire state.

It may surprise you then to learn that people in that county don't always have access to fresh, healthy food.

Numbers show that 11% of Union County residents and 25% of nearby Anson County residents are described as food insecure.

ncIMPACT's Sloane Heffernan explains what is being done to turn those numbers around.

- The county is working on initiatives to bring more people to the table to improve food access and availability - And they have different top dressings here.

- [Sloane] There is something exciting taking root in Union County.

- We have areas where the community can come and they can pick their own produce if they cannot afford to buy some.

So this is one of our beds here.

- [Sloane] The Windgate Community Garden at Windgate University was designed to teach the public how to grow their own produce.

It's one of several initiatives aimed at improving the food supply systems in Union County.

- What was found during COVID is that the local producers weren't able to get their food out to the community, but then there was a great deal of people that were food insecure that could not afford food.

- [Sloane] Farmland covers about 46% of Union County, yet research shows 11% of the population does not have reliable access to affordable nutritious food.

- More and more kids are removed from the farm.

More and more young people do not know where their food comes from.

There's many, many varieties of basil.

- [Sloane] Andrew Baucom is the Union County Extension Director.

He showed us the gardens at the Cooperative Extension Office where they conduct research on various plants and use it as an education tool for the youth and community.

- Put your hands in the dirt, right, and have an appreciation for not only the food that you're eating, but also the individuals that are producing, growing, preparing that food for you.

This can really impact growers' economics.

- [Sloane] Baucom is among local leaders working on developing The Barn, a food focused industrial park near Windgate University.

The Barn will include a shared commercial kitchen, food processing equipment, and access to ship products.

The goal is to connect the producers with the consumers without having to farm out the expensive production part of the process.

- I think that's really what sets us apart is is that team approach and just the collective, the collective aspect of let's do this together and we can do more.

- Get some hay, we have some cover crop.

- [Sloane] Windgate is also starting a program that focuses on agriculture and food systems within its biology major.

The program will help fill jobs.

It's estimated that there are 50,000 job openings in the ag industry at any given time.

- We're looking at food systems as holistic agriculture from production, to logistical movement of those items, to cold storage, to marketing, all the way to health, wellness, and nutrition.

- [Sloane] Planting the seed for those graduates to make a real impact on both the food supply systems and the economy in the years to come.

Windgate kicked off its agriculture and food systems concentration in the fall of 2022.

Since Windgate doesn't have a working farm to serve as a lab, the university is now forging partnerships with farms, nonprofits, and other businesses and organizations within the community.

- Thank you, Sloane.

Pretty inspiring.

Let's bring back our experts.

And joining us for our ncIMPACT round table is Sam Hoeffler.

Sam is the Director of Food Programs at Reinvestment Partners.

Sam, it's wonderful to have you with us.

We've just been looking at these terrific partners to increase food access, in which Windgate is represented.

Maybe you could start off by sharing with us how your organization is helping communities with food access.

- Thanks for having me.

We really try to use food as a tool to address both poverty and health.

And we help folks with food access in the simplest way we know how, which is to basically give them funds for fruits and vegetables that they can use at their local grocery store.

And what that means is once they have those funds, they can shop when they want and they can purchase the fruits and vegetables that work for their lives and work for their families.

And what we're finding is that people are really excited about this program and that they're using it.

I'll share that our participants have spent almost $10 million across the state of North Carolina in fruits and vegetables.

And that tells us that what we've set up is working and it tells us that people really want to buy fruits and vegetables.

And I think it reminds us that the main barrier to buying fruits and vegetables is money.

And so we're trying to solve for that.

We're trying to make sure that folks have access to those funds so they can purchase fruits and vegetables.

- So Ron, that's a big collaboration happening with lots of players across the state.

For those people watching who are thinking about, okay, what can I do tomorrow in my community, what advice do you have for them to begin to reimagine their local food system frameworks?

- I think that's what excites me the most is that there's not a one solution to all.

It's going to take these type of collaborative efforts to solve these issues.

And it's people getting involved, people asking themselves, "Where do I fit in?

I'm a neighbor, I am in this community, I am a part of this community.

What can I contribute to this food system?"

Whether it's the extra food that I grow in my local garden that I want to share with my neighbors, or whether it's volunteering at one of the programs that are already there contributing.

There's so many ways to get involved and that's what I would challenge people is to ask, "How can I be a part of this food system's framework?"

- It's probably not coincidental, Roland, that while Ron said it's not one size fits all, every example he had required people working together.

- Yes.

- Talk to us about some of the challenges of collaboration in this work.

- Yeah, absolutely.

Well, in particular for the farmers that we represent as Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, the challenges of of participating in this are the fact that we kind of expect farmers to take the lowest price for the products that they're growing and that they're making.

For farms to, for small farms anyway to contribute to the economic health and vitality of their communities, they need to get paid a fair price for the healthy, fresh foods they're creating in our communities.

And so when we invest in systems that allow more farms to access local markets and get food on the plate of people in their community, the better off we are.

These small farms can't compete on the global scale with mega farms in California, or Iowa, or South America, and survive as economic entities.

But they can be part of our local communities and they can be supporting us every day in our health not just in what we eat, but in the environment that we have to steward.

- Sam, you've intimated that this work isn't just about hunger or longer term health.

What's at stake here?

How does the community benefit when its residents have access to healthy, affordable food?

- That's such a good question.

I mean, I think, I really truly think that we kind of can't do anything until we meet basic needs.

And so that's kind of why we're so focused on food here is we're trying to meet a basic need and we're trying to do it at scale alongside all of our different partners.

And so one thing that I think could really kind of change the game that we've been working on in our work is what if this whole idea of access, what if we came to people, and I think it sounds like it's similar to what Ron and Roland are talking about as well is like how can we change this so it works for people?

And one thing that we've been working on is so often, people have to find services, and they have to apply, or otherwise get engaged in that way.

And we've been working on trying to use existing information.

Let's say we know your health insurer, for example, knows your income and they know that you have diabetes.

What if we sent that person an email or a text message and said, "Hey, you would benefit from this," and we started that way, almost changing the entire tenure of that conversation or that relationship with that person to say, "We care about you, you're deserving, and we know this will improve your health, and that's what we care about."

So I think we're really interested in the idea of expanding the idea of access to even what we know today to really kind of affirmatively reaching people and caring for them before they find us, I guess, is kinda what I'm thinking.

- Very insightful.

Ron, I wanna give you the last question and I want to refocus just a little bit.

Your organization is putting a lot of its energy on the issue of child food insecurity.

Can you just leave us with some ways communities can specifically address food access challenges for our youngest residents?

- Yeah.

I think you have to look at it as an investment.

As a nonprofit leader, you have to have the insight to be able to see years down the road, generations down the road.

I look at every dollar, every thousand dollars, every $100,000 contribution to our work as an investment.

It's that meal that we're providing today is not only introducing that child to something new, it's filling an immediate need, yes.

So that way, they're able to focus.

That way, they're able to pay attention and to learn.

But then that child now has an opportunity to learn healthier habits that's going to affect their health long term.

They're going to focus in school more so their chances of graduating and furthering their educations are stronger.

So you have to be able to look further down the road.

So I would encourage everyone to see how do I want to invest in our tomorrow by ensuring that our children have a healthy, nutritious meal today?

- Well, looking further down the road is something that each of the three of you do incredibly well.

Ron, Roland, Sam, thank you for joining us and for the important work you're doing in North Carolina.

And I want to specially thank the local leaders who were featured in this episode.

They generously allowed us to share their inspirational stories.

We don't take that for granted.

And of course, we never end an episode of ncIMPACT without thanking you, our amazing audience, for watching and engaging.

You know solutions are out there if we work together.

Thank you all.

We want you to tell us what your community is doing or how we can help you.

You can email us at ncIMPACT@unc.edu or send a message on Twitter or Facebook and be sure to join us every Friday night at 7:30 on PBS North Carolina for new episodes of ncIMPACT.

Coming up on ncIMPACT, offshore wind is expected to provide a big economic boost to our state.

We'll find out how communities are preparing to fill those workforce needs.

[dramatic music] ♪ - [Narrator] ncIMPACT is a PBS North Carolina production in association with the University of North Carolina School of Government.

Funding for ncIMPACT is made possible by.

- [Narrator 2] Changing the course of people's lives.

That's the impact UNC Health and the UNC School of Medicine work to deliver every day.

Our 40,000 team members across the state of North Carolina are committed to caring for you, our patients and communities, as well as educating the next generation of healthcare professionals.

Individually, we can do a little, but collectively, we can do a lot to create impact.