Primary Benefits to the People of Central Appalachia

The primary benefits to the people of Central Appalachia will be:

• Healthy local food options.
• Increased self-esteem through agency and autonomy.
• Enhanced sense of community, resiliency, and partnership through rediscovery of Appalachian heritage and knowledge.
• More personal income retained resulting from not having to pay high costs of imported food.
• Potential source of income from local farmers’ markets and cooperative regional marketing.
• Spreading of the knowledge and seeds of various ancient, heirloom varieties of different vegetables which were a critical part of the mountaineers’ heritage but are now in danger of being lost.