Bringing Healthy Options to Underserved Communities
The Mississippi Delta has some of the richest soils in the world, and is one of the most productive commodity agriculture regions, as well. Yet much of the fresh produce consumed is imported from hundreds or even thousands of miles away. The Happy Foods Project is working to turn that around by encouraging people to learn how to grow and market their produce, which helps both the economy and health.
The Happy Foods Project launched in 2017 works with new and under-resourced growers to help with cultivation, season extension, marketing and creating an environment where fresh and healthy food grown locally serve local residents while putting income in the pockets of farmers.
“This is a food RX program,” says Robbie Pollard, Executive Director and Lead Farmer, Happy Foods Project. “We want to ramp up vegetable production in the Delta. We work with a demonstration farm in Marks, which is an incubator farm where people can come in and learn how to grow their own food and start a farming business to make some money. If someone wants to learn how to plant, we will definitely show them. And we also provide seedlings for different people in the community who want to grow their own food. Some of the vegetables grown include broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, onions, peppers, tomatoes and collard greens. With this program, people eat seasonally which is healthy and fresh.”
Funding to launch the program was received from Southern SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) for three growing seasons. The goal is to become sustainable after that. The pilot program in 2024 included providing a box of fresh product weekly to residents in Bolivar, Coahoma, Lafayette, Panola, Quitman and Tunica counties.
“If people buy three boxes, which range from between ten and twenty pounds of food, for $40, we give away one box free to disabled or homebound people who are enrolled,” says Pollard. “It costs $5 for delivery or customers can pick up from one of the partners in Clarksdale. We had a pretty good response from people the first year.”
The program employs two young men. Pollard said they are showing the youths how to learn while they work, and then they can continue a career in agriculture, if they choose, with resources provided to help them get started.
Happy Foods Project also works with a lot of older farmers including one who works on the Happy Foods Project farm in Mark’s when he has time after managing his one-acre plot and his fiancé’s 1.5-acre plot.
“He does everything with a hoe,” says Pollard. “The other day he was over here putting up a high tunnel, which is a greenhouse that allows growers to start plants early and extend their season. It has a metal frame with plastic over the top. The sides can be rolled up when it is warm, and it has lights, a ventilation system and drip irrigation, which helps with water conservation concerns. We want to be able to produce something all year long.”
This year they have had some hydroponic and aquaponic equipment donated which is being set up. In addition to growing food, they are also growing community spirit.
“Neighbors come over,” he says. “Family members come out and start seeds. We have a very nice community going on. It is definitely working itself out.”
Currently the Happy Foods Project farm covers four acres. The plan is to expand to thirteen acres. That may not seem like much, but with the small, one-row equipment and amount of time needed to grow and harvest vegetables, that is a lot.
“Our goal is to get some bigger equipment,” says Pollard. “Hundreds of more acres could be leased, but we have to build up to start producing more vegetables in the Mississippi Delta. We also help people who want to expand find more places to sell. We have a lot of outlets, but the production is not there yet. Once we ramp up production, we will have more farmers willing to put a portion of their land in vegetables because they know they have a market. A lot of folks don’t have time to go to the farmers market on Saturdays when they are full-time growers.”
To date most of their marketing has been word of mouth in addition to the website thehappyfoodsproject.org.
A business plan that has been developed by Natalie Minton, a research associate at the University of Mississippi’s Community First Research Center.
“As a farming consortium, Happy Foods Project has the potential to build generational wealth for farm families, especially minority farm families,” says Minton. “Robbie acts as a connector of resources for various farmers across northern Mississippi. He is always flexible with the different areas of state to properly address the nuances of specific communities. For example, in Clarksdale he is working with a local school to build out a farm on the school property. Their summer feeding program got cut, so this is a way to provide fresh produce to families during the summer while providing an outlet for local farmers to actually farm.”
Kirkpatrick Elementary in Clarksdale school is being used as a pilot setting to see if school properties could be used for farmers who don’t have access to land. Minton said a lot of people don’t have access to land even though they want to farm. The project provides the school district access to fresh vegetables for its own cafeterias, but the farmers also can sell whatever the school doesn’t need.
“It is very innovative,” says Minton. “Children also benefit from actually seeing how vegetables are grown. Robbie is available to teach at the school garden or have a lesson on the farm.”
Minton specializes in community-based participatory research designed to put communities in the driver’s seat. “Everything involves the community members and they dictate what happens and how it happens so they have as much agency as possible,” she says. “And it is usually based around exploring or solving a problem that affects their own community so they have buy-in to participate in the research. Robbie has guided this project so everyone lifts up everyone else. It is a very flexible way to serve communities while also building out multiple market outlets for the farmers he works with. I think Robbie is on his way to building it out into a statewide network.”