Maile Auterson describes our food system as broken. She says a disproportionate amount of federal funding goes to support commodity farming, like corn and soybeans, and too much of our produce has to travel great distances to reach our shelves. Auterson is the founder of Springfield Community Gardens. She says we need more healthy, reliable options for food.
“The only way we're going to do,” she says, “is to start growing our own food again and making it more local."
She hopes a new grant and a cross-the-state partnership will help Springfield Community Gardens achieve that goal.
The Gardens recently announced a nearly $1 million dollar grant from the USDA. Along with Kansas City based KC Farm School, St. Louis’s Rustic Roots Sanctuary and Springfield’s Open Field Health Collaborative, the Community Gardens will be using that grant money to launch what they call the Fresh Links initiative. Auterson says the program will link urban and rural communities across Missouri, develop and share best practices for growers and develop new systems to help small farms do more and reach more markets and customers.
Auterson says those involved will work with communities in and just outside of the state’s three largest metros, building knowledge, relationships and trust.
Auterson emphasized the trust component and bridging the perceived rural / urban divide.
Auterson explained, "I often hear from the rural counties that often are persistent poverty counties that these larger cities get all of the services right. Well, this is really a way to reach over that divide”
The $959 thousand grant has a three-year period. Auterson says in its first year the Fresh Links initiative will focus on the St. Louis area.