The Delta Fresh Foods Initiative engages in a variety of projects that support one or more of the following goals:

Sustainable Network Development:

Build regional capacity and local shared leadership for Delta Fresh Foods Initiative

Create Demand:

Educate and attract consumers for locally produced, healthy food products

Build Supply:

Increase availability of locally grown, healthy food products for regional consumers

Build Market Capacity:

Build infrastructure and skills necessary to start and expand local and regional markets

Support Structural Change:

Engage in partnerships to support policies and initiatives to promote all of the above

Growing Together Mentoring Network for Community and Church Gardeners

*ENTER THE GARDEN CONTEST! Delta Fresh Foods announces an exciting Delta-wide competition, with a $500 Grand Prize, to promote and celebrate the church, community and youth gardeners who serve as catalysts to produce fresh food and a healthy Delta community. The competition will begin February 18 with full submissions due in September and awards at the Delta Fresh Foods Harvest Celebration in October. To enter, visit our facebook page or contact Ryan Betz at rbetz@deltahealthalliance.org or (601) 832-2785 for complete details.

Community and church gardeners from Delta counties gather for training, networking and site visits to increase their gardening skills and showcase their work.

The group includes novice as well as seasoned growers in their second year of providing fresh local produce to church and community members. Gardeners have benefited greatly from workshops with Community Food Systems expert Edwin Marty who founded Jones Valley Urban Farms in Alabama.

To learn more, contact Ryan Betz at rbetz@deltahealthalliance.org.

Download the Application

Coahoma County Good Food Revolution Healthy Cooking Classes and Annual Harvest Dinner

Delta Fresh Foods is promoting increased consumption of fresh local produce in an exciting new partnership with the Coahoma County Higher Education Center and MS State Extension Service staff. Healthy cooking classes for adults, teens and kids will be held in the Viking kitchen at the Clarksdale campus throughout the year. Raised bed gardens on site provide vegetables and herbs for the classes and healthy recipe booklets are provided at the end of each session.

A Harvest Celebration in the Fall of 2012 provided community members to taste and see first hand how delicious southern recipes utilizing locally grown produce can be made healthier without comprising taste!

EBT use at Farmers Markets

Outreach and Promotion to increase use of EBT Benefits to purchase fresh, local produce

Both growers and consumers in the MS Delta have a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on a project that enables EBT benefits to be accepted at local Farmers Markets.

This is a win-win economically and will provide much better access to Mississippi grown food!

If you are a grower who would like assistance in applying for free electronic equipment to accept EBT benefits or a consumer who wants to know more about what Farmers' Markets accept EBT benefits, we can help! Contact: Judy Belue at (662) 404-5004 or jwbelue1@gmail.com.

Farm to School in Mississippi (F2S)

Bringing Mississippi growers and school Food Service Directors together to find ways to healthier, fresher, more economical and better tasting fruits and vegetables in school cafeterias.

The Mississippi Delta has the richest, most productive soil in the land . . . and the greatest need to get better food on the plates of our school children.

This project promotes best practices for getting safe, locally grown produce into schools, and will include two pilot projects beginning in Spring 2012.

Project Coordinator, Nathan Rosenberg, can provide you with research, best practices and solutions, success stories, health and economic benefits for F2S. Contact him at nate.rosenberg@gmail.com.

Delta Regional Farmers Market Alliance

Promoting and strengthening local markets through networking, technical assistance and advertisement throughout the Delta Fresh Foods coalition.

As Farmers' Markets continue to grow and thrive in several Delta communities, this project seeks to facilitate networking and mutual benefits among market managers and to foster emerging Farmers Markets in "food deserts" in the region.

For more information, contact Judy Belue at jwbelue1@gmail.com or Nathan Rosenberg at nate.Rosenberg@gmail.com.

Continuing Education for Growers

Watch for workshops and seminars provided by the Delta Fresh Foods Education Committee to help vegetable growers increase their production and income. The Education Committee is assembling an annual calendar of trainings in the region provided by several organizations including MEGA, USDA, Alcorn State Extension Service and others.

Contact Dorothy Grady Scarbrough at (662) 402-4798 or dotscarbrough@bellsouth.net for more information.