Tag Archives: food desert

Sweet Valley Farms Is Turning a Converted Shed Into a Lifeline for Fort Valley Families

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Fort Valley, GA |

Despite being located in a county famous for producing fresh fruits and vegetables, food insecurity is a major issue for many families in Fort Valley. That’s the idea behind Sweet Valley Farms — a small produce barn started by one university professor looking to provide a little relief to underserved families in the community.

“Sweet Valley Farms is a community-supported micro grocery. We realized that in our community there is a missing component of accessible, affordable, healthy food. So we decided to take a shed, convert it into a barn, and sell produce at a price that folks can afford,” said Hamidah Sharif-Amanyi, Assistant Professor at Fort Valley State University’s College of Agriculture.

ADDRESSING CHRONIC DISEASE THROUGH FRESH FOOD

The barn also helps tackle another major concern for the community — providing healthier food options in an area where diet-related illness is widespread.

“This community has one of the highest rates of chronic disease, including diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. It is also a high food insecurity area — there are lots of families, particularly during the summers when children are at home, where food is a lot more inaccessible,” Sharif-Amanyi said.

GROWN HERE, SOURCED LOCALLY

While much of the produce sold at Sweet Valley Farms is grown on site, a collaborative network of local farmers and growers ensures there’s always more to choose from.

“We partner with farmers and growers for the items we don’t grow ourselves. We have an orchard here where we grow lemons, figs, and peach trees, but we also partner with other growers throughout the region,” Sharif-Amanyi said. “We’ve become a staple in the community — many families depend on us. We’ve built partnerships with larger agribusinesses such as Lane to supply our peaches for the summer, and that allows them to provide their product to a community and to families who may not otherwise be able to afford locally grown food.”

FROM FORTY VISITORS TO FIVE HUNDRED

What started with just forty visitors a week has now grown to more than five hundred — and a big part of that growth comes down to how easy and welcoming the process is designed to be.

“If you’d like to purchase our ten-dollar harvest bag — a curated bag of ten different fruits and vegetables, about twenty-five pieces total, including bananas, potatoes, apples, and peaches — you can preorder that online and set an appointment to come to the barn,” Sharif-Amanyi said. “But if you just want to come in with one dollar, two dollars, or five dollars, you can just show up. You check in at the gate, and we text you when it’s time to shop the barn.”

MORE THAN JUST PRODUCE

With more than twenty different fruits and vegetables available, Sweet Valley Farms offers a remarkable variety for a small operation. But according to Sharif-Amanyi, the most important thing the farm is offering isn’t measured in pounds or varieties.

“We sell more than produce. We sell hope. We sell dignity. We sell the ability for people to freely purchase food and feel good about it,” she said. “We hope community members come in and say, ‘That’s a place where we can try new foods.'”

For Fort Valley, Sweet Valley Farms has become far more than a barn full of vegetables — it’s a reminder that access to fresh, healthy food is something every community deserves.

By: Damon Jones

Forever Young Aquaponics Opens State-of-the-Art Facility in Jonesboro, Georgia

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Jonesboro, GA |

A decade’s worth of planning, researching, and building finally came to fruition as Forever Young Aquaponics celebrated the grand opening of its new state-of-the-art facility in Jonesboro. Inside, old-school production principles meet new-school technology, combining fish farming and plant cultivation in a closed-loop system designed to maximize every inch of land and every drop of water available.

“The fish produce nutrient-rich water for the plants to grow in. And since you plant everything in water, you plant it very densely — so you get ten times more produce in much less time, using only ten percent of the water it would take in soil-based agriculture,” said Gaurav Kumar, President of the Andrew J. Young Foundation.

That efficiency extends to every part of the system. According to Arvind Venkat, CEO and Managing Partner of Forever Young Aquaponics, the closed-loop design means virtually nothing goes to waste.

“The crops are in water all the time, and because they’re in water all the time, they consume water and nutrients as needed. There’s no wastage, nothing runs off into the environment. What the plants require, they consume. What is not required just continues to recirculate in the system,” Venkat said.

A BLUEPRINT FOR THE WORLD

The location of the new facility wasn’t chosen by accident. Situated just fifteen minutes from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the Andrew J. Young Foundation hopes the Jonesboro operation will serve as a model for countries around the globe looking to expand access to fresh, sustainable produce.

“People from all over the world can come here, visit the farm, take the idea behind it with them — and we’ll provide our operational intelligence and intellectual expertise that we’ve learned over the last two or three years building this,” Kumar said. “We want to empower other countries around the world to become food sovereign.”

For Venkat, two principles have driven the design from the start: water conservation and low energy consumption — both critical for countries where those resources aren’t guaranteed.

“In any country that’s not as blessed as the US, where you have a strong energy grid and strong water infrastructure, you often run into situations where water is scarce and energy is scarce as well,” Venkat said. “The energy footprint of this greenhouse is less than one refrigerator — that’s as much as one acre of greenhouse consumes. If we can take that to countries that are energy and water deficient, we can do farming that is environmentally responsible and responsible for human health as well.”

A SUPPLEMENT, NOT A REPLACEMENT

While aquaponics isn’t designed to replace traditional farming, the Forever Young team is clear about the role it can play — particularly in major urban centers like Atlanta, which are often classified as food deserts.

“Aquaponics doesn’t compete with the traditional farmer. The traditional farmer still focuses on the staples — corn, the heavy consumption crops that are required. You can’t do that in aquaponics, not today at least,” Venkat said. “What we focus on is short shelf-life crops. And most of these crops are consumed by urban cities — they’re not actually consumed in the larger part of the rural country.”

For Jonesboro and the broader Atlanta metro, the opening of Forever Young Aquaponics represents more than a new farm. It’s a proof of concept — one its founders hope will ripple far beyond Georgia’s borders.

By: Damon Jones

Family Takes a Leap of Faith Following a Move South

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Ellenwood, GA |

What started out as just an idea and a leap of faith has now transformed into this flourishing garden and farmers market. However, just like starting up any other business, it didn’t come without its share of challenges.

“2010 we had moved down from up north, from New York, all the way down to Dublin, Georgia. We just felt that we had a calling to change our life and do something different. When we started farming, it was difficult for us. We didn’t really know what we we’re doing, but we had some great neighbors that taught us a couple of things to kind of get us started and after a couple of years, we started selling to farmers markets,” says Raphaela Polanco, Owner of Atlanta Harvest.

In 2018 they moved their operation to the bustling city of Atlanta, where they provide a community starved for fresh produce, with a one stop shop for all their needs.

“We’re about fifteen minutes from the Atlanta airport. Here, we have a market stand where we sell directly to our customers. We’re in a food desert area and so, we have a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. We got local dairy, meats, eggs, value added products, jams and jellies. Also, on our farm we have our summer crops growing. We have our squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Our customers, they can walk around the farm and see what we’re growing and see what’s in season,” says Polanco.

Providing that type of experience is one of the main goals for Atlanta Harvest, as giving the next generation some time on the farm will help them appreciate all the work that goes into growing their food.

“A lot of young children come to the farm. It’s their first time that they’re actually seeing a farm. A lot of times they see fruits and vegetables and they think they come from the grocery store. So, having them to be able to come to a farm, a farm near them where they can see that food comes from the dirt and here’s farmers, here’s agriculture leaders who are actually planting and growing the food that I can use for consumption and help to make me strong and healthy. It’s such a life changing experience for young children and those in the community that have difficulty getting fresh fruits and vegetables. It’s just so great that there’s somewhere that is close to them that they’re able to have this access,” says Polanco.

It’s access they are more than happy to provide to a grateful community.

“When I come out here and I get to interact with people and they let us know ‘hey, thank you so much for being here. I was looking for something like this in my area. I thought I had to go hours south or other areas in Georgia’, but knowing that there’s something like this available near them and they’re able to share that with their friends and family just makes such a big difference and means so much to us,” says Polanco.

By: Damon Jones