This year, we again focused our reporting on remarkable people building power in their communities through food.
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This year, we again focused our reporting on remarkable people building power in their communities through food.
December 27, 2024
Maximina Hernández Reyes, founder of MR. Farms in Boring, Oregon. (Photo credit: Elizabeth Doerr)
Over our nearly 16 years of covering the U.S. food system, we’ve seen firsthand how complex, often sobering stories about challenges in food and farming come to life when they include real people trying to fix problems at the local level.
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Climate change, environmental health issues, and food access are foremost among those challenges. The people and projects we drew inspiration from this year provided creative, community-appropriate improvements to disaster relief, wildfire prevention, living wages, and food access, among other pressing issues.
Here are our best community food solutions stories of 2024.
The Farmers Leaning On Each Other’s Tools
The cost of specialized farm equipment is one of the biggest barriers for small-scale and beginning farmers. Cooperatives are springing up around the nation to help bridge the gap.
This Group Has Helped Farmworkers Become Farm Owners for More Than 2 Decades
California’s farmworkers face untold barriers accessing the land, capital, and training needed to strike out on their own. For 20 years, ALBA has been slowly changing the landscape for this important group of aspiring growers.
Can Prescriptions for Produce-Focused Meal Kits Fight Diabetes?
Over half of the population of Stockton, California, is diabetic or pre-diabetic. A prescribed meal kit program helps some residents manage the disease and may provide a model for other communities.
A participant in the Healthy Food Rx program gets ready to prepare a recipe with the fresh produce she received in one of its meal kits. (Photo credit: Abbott Fund)
Micro Solar Leases: A New Income Stream for Black Farmers in the South?
EnerWealth Solutions wants to bring the benefits of renewable energy to Black farmers and landowners in the Carolinas.
Native Youth Learn to Heal Their Communities Through Mycelium
Spirit of the Sun is using traditional ecological knowledge to help address food insecurity and connection to culture.
How a Community Gardener Grew Food for Her Family, Quit Her Job at McDonald’s, and Started a Farm
A Q&A with Maximina Hernández Reyes, who credits her success to a Portland, Oregon, food network called Rockwood Food Systems Collaborative.
A Community of Growers
How East New York Farms builds food security and provides jobs for its neighborhood.
Farm Stops Create New Markets for Small Farms
These brick-and-mortar consignment businesses support farmers and bring fresh, locally grown food to their communities.
Kim Bayer, owner of Slow Farm, in Ann Arbor, MI, with farm managers Zach Goodman and Magda Nawrocka-Weekes. Slow Farm sells its organic produce at Argus, a local farm stop. (Photo credit: Paige Hodder)
How a Vermont Cheesemaker Helps Local Farms Thrive
By paying top dollar for milk and sourcing within 15 miles of its creamery, Jasper Hill supports an entire community.
Good Goats Make Good Neighbors
A California nonprofit builds community through goat grazing to reduce wildfire risk, farm-to-school programs, and more.
After Hurricane Helene, Local Farmers and Chefs Pivot to Disaster Relief
Western North Carolina farms, restaurants, and even a festival quickly switched gears to get fresh food and water to neighbors devastated by the worst storm in more than a century.
Restoring a Cornerstone of the Local Grain Economy
A new community of millers joins the revival of America’s regional grain heritage, connecting farmers with a market eager for fresh, local flour.
July 30, 2025
From Oklahoma to D.C., a food activist works to ensure that communities can protect their food systems and their future.
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