Comox Valley Farmers' Market coupon needs have 'skyrocketed'

Watanda is a bulk-shopping system that helps ensure low-income families have access to meat during the Eid-al-Fitr celebration following Ramadan. In Watanda groups, members contribute money to a collective fund to purchase cattle that is then split between all the contributors. Amidst the rising cost of cattle, Watanda groups help ensure families have food on the table and can still participate in celebrations.

Farm stands operating on sliding-scale and pay-what-you-can models are improving access to fresh, healthy food in communities battling poverty and food insecurity. In these models, residents who can afford to pay full price are subsidizing some of the costs for residents who cannot. The rest of the funding comes from a patchwork of support.

To develop the next generation of producers, the Young Farmers Coalition non-profit is now pushing Congress and individual state legislatures to take a big step: forgiving farmers’ student loans.

Brown's Super Stores operates seven profitable supermarkets in traditionally food desert neighborhoods in Philadelphia. The founder says it's because they brought together a group of community leaders and asked them exactly what they were looking for in a neighborhood grocery store, and used the information to truly create a space for the broader community that often includes health care clinics, banking services, event space, and more.

Crockett County, Texas, negotiated tax abatement agreements with wind energy companies to secure direct charitable donations that fund senior services such as meal deliveries, transportation assistance, and social programs. This has enabled older residents to "age in place" in this remote rural community despite federal funding cuts.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, several community-led organizations are joining forces to help those in need by gathering and distributing supply donations and helping those affected apply for FEMA assistance, unemployment and other relief support.

Farmacy Marketplace is a neighborhood grocery store that partners with local farmers through the non-profit In Her Shoes to provide community members with access to fresh produce and meat. Local grocery stores are emerging as a solution to food accessibility in rural communities and Black neighborhoods as dollar stores close shop. Similar locally owned grocers are also popping up around the country in cities like Detroit and Milwaukee.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic making access to groceries more difficult, The Walker River Paiute Tribe created a food pantry to support members of the tribe and local farmers. The food pantry has since become the largest in the state, by volume of distributed food, having distributed about 6,500 bags of food to over 355 households.

In the district of Bijapur, a town in India, there was a malnutrition rate of 40 per cent in 2019. In order to tackle the problem officials identified the areas with high malnutrition and directed their efforts to those places. They introduced nutrient rich millets in child care centers. They also created kitchen gardens to provide the community with access to fresh vegetables. Finally, they brought Nutrient Rehabilitation Centers in the community since parents were hesitant to take their children to them. Two years later, malnutrition rates dropped by 12 percent.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, small farmers in Michigan are coming up with different business models in order to get their produce into consumers’ hands. Fisheye Farms in Detroit created a community-supported agriculture, or CSA, subscription program. However, the program is only meeting approximately one-third of its necessary finances, and they hope to find a balance with other offerings. Argus Farm Stop in Ann Arbor quickly turned their online store into a popular digital farmers market, increasing its customers from eight to 2,500.