Food is an important part of our lives. Many of us take food for granted but in reality, there are many families who are going without nutritious food because they simply cannot afford it. Looking into how different countries view low-income communities, solutions can be placed into action. Food is an essential part of everyone’s life. The quality of food in which we consume can dictate the quality of life we live.
Writers Ellen Smirl, Katherine Webb Farley, and Carrie Blanchard Bush have recognized the importance of the impact of food in today’s societies. Ellen Smirl is a Canadian writer who focuses on issues facing Canadian communities while Katherine Webb Farley and Carrie Blanchard Bush are researchers for Appalachia State University that working on the impact of food movements in the Appalachia region. All three writers have recognized the importance of the lack of food in their respected communities and what can be done to help the families to overcome obstacles that prevent them from having a good life.
In Social Justice Deficits in the Local Food Movement: Local Food and Low-Income Realities, Smirl writes about the Alternative Food Movements that trying to bring attention to how food is used as a political tool to create social injustices to low-income families thus creating a low- class status. Alternative Food Movement groups are bringing awareness to the injustice in which large agricultural industries are imposing on low-income communities. Smirl writes “Critics observe that such a model is highly unsustainable from an environmental standpoint and has simultaneously created a world rife with hinger and obesity (Smirl).” Smirl states that governments should be involved in making public policies that improve the current food system by working with families educating them on how to produce their own food(Smirl).
Farley and Bush also recognize how the lack of food impacts the communities in the Appalachian region. Because they are in an area that has a high number of families living in poverty, their research focuses on how to invest in the communities with financial help from public and private sources. “Studying local food systems is of interest because they have the unique characteristic of encompassing multiple aspects of social impact investing, including goals that may be seen as important to Appalachian communities (Webb Farley and Blanchard Bush).
Farley and Webb’s findings are about teaming community organizations such as local farmers, educational institutions, government agencies, and businesses and various financial establishments to help provide capital.(Webb Farley and Blanchard Bush). Farley and Bush write about food movements in Appalachia that are working to improving the economic and social wellbeing of the people that live there. By showing these low-income communities with the help of financial and educational support, “Local food movements can create jobs, strengthen communities, and improve sustainability(Webb Farley and Blanchard Bush)”.
Despite all these efforts, food movement groups across the world are still running into challenges. The lack of funding and educational training are major obstacles facing the need to help improve these low-income communities. But despite these challenges, Farley and Webb states the importance of “Studying local food systems is of interest because they have the unique characteristic of encompassing multiple aspects of social impact investing (Webb Farley and Blanchard Bush).”
There is a common thread which ties these ideas of a better world together. Building relationships between the agricultural industry, food movement organizations, government agencies, and low-income communities can improve the value of their life both economically and socially.
