In rural Alabama, community gardens help address obesity and poverty

The North End Community Improvement Collaborative's Local Foods Initiative utilized partnerships and grants to create an urban agricultural food system in an area of Mansfield, Ohio, that was classified as a food desert. They established space for community gardens and micro-farming, trained people how to farm, and formed a cooperative to sell produce in bulk.

Across the United States, schools, government agencies, and individuals are taking steps to reduce food waste in our schools’ cafeterias. There are collaborations that are trying to change the systemic processes by creating guides on how to conduct food waste audits, providing research frameworks for innovative change, and providing policy guidance. A large effort is underway to change how children think about food, which means bringing them to farms and into kitchens to bring them closer to the process.

Tribal nations across the U.S., supported by the Intertribal Buffalo Council and adaptive federal grants, have rebuilt bison herds totaling roughly 25,000 animals on tribal lands—restoring a critical food source, with programs distributing tens of thousands of pounds of buffalo meat annually to tribal communities.

Agricultural cooperatives in Hawai'i pool small farmers' resources to collectively process, market, and sell their crops, with successful examples like the Hawai'i 'Ulu Cooperative enabling nearly 200 members to reach broader markets and the Hawaii Cattle Producers Cooperative shipping 8,000-9,000 cattle annually while returning surplus profits to rancher-members, though some co-ops have failed due to declining membership and market pressures.

Gatgyeda Haayk's community garden tackles food access challenges in Metlakatla by patiently building rich soil over many years, enabling diverse crops to flourish despite Alaska's difficult growing conditions. This effort not only provides fresh food but also revitalizes cultural heritage by cultivating traditional plants like "Indian potatoes" and fostering community sharing.

To combat food insecurity, the nonprofit Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Services delivers free, nutritious meals to Japanese seniors in local residential communities, Boyle Heights, and East Los Angeles.

After the North East Slow Food and Agrobiodiversity Society documented hundreds of edible, wild plants in an Indian state, they worked with food stall owners to incorporate these Indigenous ingredients into their menu. Some opened cafés, which allowed them to connect with farmers and foragers and reduce their carbon footprint by sourcing greens locally. These cafés highlight underutilized plant species and create a community in their villages.

Grain banks allow community members in need to access food grain by buying into a bank-like system. The grain bank system helps communities work together to feed themselves and gain more control of their well-being and livelihoods.

A community-based grocery store is bringing nutritious and affordable food to residents in Waco, Texas. Jubilee Market is located in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood which previously lacked a grocery store. The store’s success has inspired a similar project in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas.

The Women’s Collective is a nonprofit that works with more than 10,000 subsistence farmers in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu to promote food security using millets, a crop resilient to drought and climate change. For Pavitra, one of those farmers, she began cultivating the ancient grains in 2015 and now has more than enough food to feed her family year-round. However, there’s a lack of public investment in millet production and machinery. And there’s no unified effort to create demand for millets: Some state governments lead the charge and in other states, it’s led by grassroots organizations.