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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.