Needs, Goals and Outcomes

Some of the most pressing regional needs to be addressed by Grow Appalachia are:

• Basic diet-related health concerns – obesity, diabetes, heart disease.
• Limited availability of high-quality fresh produce.
• Generational loss of knowledge of gardening, cooking, and food preservation skills.
• Widespread economic dependency and lack of autonomy.

Some of the planned outcomes will be:

• Provide mountain families the resources and support to produce more of their own food.
• Develop systems to share surplus produce with elderly and disabled folks at little or no cost.
• Create systems to market surplus produce to local residents or, cooperatively, to a wider regional market.
•  Families benefiting from this program will agree to help other families as they are able to maximize the impact of the program.