Environmental impacts: Rural communities, food security

Securing a source of healthy and fresh food can be an issue if a community doesn’t have nearby resources. Justin Carter with the Center for Rural Affairs has been working on ways to help both farmers and the areas they work with to find solutions to this issue.
“I’m going to talk to you a little bit about rural food security in the context of environmental effects,” he began. “We’re going to go a little bit into our agricultural system and some of the solutions we can take to help solve some challenges.”
He started by explaining food systems that can range from global to local. Typically, it’s a circular model that starts with production and then goes into processing where a crop or animal is turned into a food product. From there it moves to distribution and marketing before being consumed.
A large element of that cycle he noted is resource management, such as soil and water.

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