- Some neighbors struggle to afford fresh produce, while others can access it easily.
- Ethan Schmitt discusses how the Eastside of Lansing was once a food desert, but local farmers have shared their produce with the community, supported by government funding.
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the end of a food program that allowed food pantries and schools to purchase locally from farmers, impacting food security in Mid-Michigan.
- The USDA's decision follows the end of the COVID era, shifting its approach to nutrition programs.
- Local leaders, including Yanice Jackson, emphasize the complexity of food security.
Some neighbors are able to find fresh produce at the stores. Others just can't afford it.
"It's important for people to look at food not just as literally having food in front of you, but how you have access to it," Allen Neighborhood Center's Ethan Schmitt said.
Ethan Schmidt tells me the Eastside of Lansing was a food desert — that is, with the help of 12 farmers shared their produce with the community, with the help of funding from the government.
"Because when you buy food from a local farmer, that money is staying right here in your local community," Schmitt said.
But continuing that mission may be getting tougher.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the end of a food program that allowed food pantries and schools to buy locally from farmers.
It provided more than $1 million to Mid-Michigan to help support the one in seven people in our neighborhood facing hunger.
The USDA said in a statement, "The COVID era is over — USDA's approach to nutrition programs will reflect that reality moving forward."
"With food security, it is very complex," Executive director of the Lansing Catayst Yanice Jackson said.
Yanice Jackson serves thousands in the greater Lansing area battling food insecurity with her group, the Lansing Catalyst.
"We know that things change, people in power, policies change, so we need to be able to change with those to provide the services we've always provided, but in addition to that, we want to grow," Jackson said.
Waiting for what the next few months might bring as the funding runs out in September.
For local farmers, Schmitt says, it's not just about saving neighbors' costs or providing a living, but building up the very community you live in.
"It isn't just that you go to some faceless, nameless store; you know the person growing your food, you know what's going into your food because you know the farmer growing it," Schmitt said.
More than 185 local farms were supported through this grant.
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