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February 20
Food Security Summit

By JENNIFER JUSTUS
February 16, 2008
The Tennessean

With Tennessee facing rising obesity and poverty rates — along with falling local farm production — a serious talk about food is in order.

That’s the idea behind a meeting today at Westminster Presbyterian Church for more than 250 farmers, community gardeners, restaurateurs, health professionals and interested residents.

The state’s first-ever Food Security Summit offers lectures and group discussion on the connections among food, farming, health, the environment and economic development opportunities. It is hosted by The Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee, a project of the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies.

“Our mission is to bring people together to create a more healthy, just and sustainable food system,” said Cassi Johnson, project director.

Urban farming, farm-to-cafeteria programs and initiatives that deliver high-quality fruits and vegetables to consumers are topics on the agenda.

Johnson said the goal is to put local, healthy foods at every corner market.

Basic information about hunger, obesity, poverty and local food systems is available in Tennessee, said Johnson, giving the group a place to start.

It’s seen as a process

Mayor Karl Dean; LaDonna Redmond, a Chicago activist and expert in urban farming; and Anthony Flaccavento, who works to create organic farms from tobacco farms, are among the speakers.

Redmond helps convert vacant lots to community-based urban farms that grow organic food. GROW Nashville, the Edgehill Community Garden and Nashville Urban Harvest are local community groups involved in urban farming.

Flaccavento is the executive director of the nonprofit Appalachian Sustainable Development.

Keel Hunt, an organizer involved with Nashville’s Agenda, will moderate.

Johnson says Food Security Partners plans to follow the summit with a written report this spring that will share stories, data, action items and policy recommendations. Today, however, is all about coming to the table to talk.

“We see this not as an event,” Johnson said, “but as a process.”

Registration for the summit closed Friday. Anyone wishing to get involved can visit foodsecuritypartners.org.