BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – Kentucky ranked 11th in fruit and vegetable consumption by state in the American Health Rankings, with just under 9% of adults reporting eating two or more types of fruits and three or more types of vegetables daily.
Need More Acres is working to change that through partnerships with area universities, including the University of Kentucky, and the results were showcased at the farm’s Farm to Health Festival.
Michelle Howell, a full-time farmer from Need More Acres, said the festival was aimed at bringing the community together around local farmers and showcasing local eating habits and the benefits of food.
“One of the ways we work with the University of Kentucky is through a grant to create an educational curriculum for eighth graders, where middle school students who want to learn more about agriculture will learn about local agriculture and also learn how to get involved in the community in different ways. Another way we work with the University of Kentucky is in our food as medicine initiative. They help us with data collection and research that shows how we can work with public health to improve people’s health using locally grown foods.”
The curriculum involves students learning the stories of farmers and the people they support through three videos over 10 interactive lessons, culminating in a social action project.
“The only way we’re going to get young people to want to farm full time in the future is to show them the different career opportunities there are,” Howell says, “so with this curriculum we want to show them that not only can they be farmers, but they can also work in public health, in schools and with institutional investors.”
Howell and Nancy Owens, senior nutrition education program assistant with the Allen County Cooperative Extension, emphasized the importance of spreading knowledge about agricultural practices and food literacy.
“If we can engage young people now and get them to make small lifestyle changes as they get older, it can help prevent some of the chronic diseases they may suffer from, like diabetes and heart disease,” Owens said.
Owens added that having partnerships like this with local farms makes them more appealing and accessible to the community.
“I think community partnerships that have access to locally grown foods are going to make it more nutritious for all families,” Owens said. “If we can get the information together and stay up to date and help them, it helps the whole community.”
Need More Acres provides free food boxes to select groups in the community. For more information, visit their website.
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