About Us
The Mississippi Farm to School Network connects farmers with schools to bring Mississippi-grown products into school cafeterias. We advocate for local farmers and schools because we believe that purchasing locally-grown, locally-sourced food benefits everyone.
But our mission doesn’t end there.
Our team is dedicated to strengthening the local agricultural economy and educating Mississippians on the importance of eating locally-grown, nutritionally-dense foods. At schools around the state, we teach students how to grow their own gardens because we believe that if a child helps grow something, they will want to eat it.
Our Beliefs, Values and Principles
Our beliefs, values and principles to transform Mississippi Food Systems were developed collaboratively by the Mississippi Food Justice Collaborative partners, including NCAT Gulf States, the Mississippi Food Policy Council, Mississippi Farm to School Network, Mileston Cooperative, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Boat People SOS, Hijra House and FoodCorps Mississippi.
The principles we hold ourselves accountable to:
We uphold that all Mississippians deserve Food Sovereignty.
We uphold that all Mississippians deserve good quality of life.
We uphold that all Mississippians deserve to grow/catch and have access to healthy food.
We uphold that all Mississippians deserve to have access to good health.
We uphold that all Mississippians deserve access to agricultural/marine resources to ethically enhance their practices. We uphold that all Mississippians deserve to be paid living wages and treated with dignity.
We uphold that all Mississippians deserve to live, work, learn and play in environmentally safe spaces.
We uphold that all Mississippians deserve clean water, clean air, healthy soil, non-toxic environments to live and thrive.
We uphold that people are sacred, and therefore investments must be made directly in historically oppressed communities.
We uphold the truths and legacies of places as sacred pathways to building ethical, just and sustainable futures.
We, the MS Food Justice Collaborative believe:
In supporting home grown leadership that represents all of our vibrant diversity.
In the healing power of food as a way to revitalize Mississippi communities in a time of dynamic change.
Food justice is a vehicle for individual and community self-sufficiency.
Working together will have a greater positive impact on food and social justice.
That all Mississippians have the right to know how to grow and prepare fresh food.
In passing the-food cultural baton in order to keep food traditions alive.
That healthy fresh food is a human right and should be affordable and accessible to all.
In supporting Mississippi farmers and fishers through fair pricing for local food production/catch.
The values that undergird our work:
Home grown leadership that represents the truth and legacies of building racial equity.
The healing power of food as a way to revitalize Mississippi communities in a time of dynamic change.
Food sovereignty as a vehicle for individual and community self-determination.
Collective courage as a strategy to responsibly and justly impact and scale food systems the fundamental right of all Mississippians to have access to fresh food, clean air, non toxic water and soil, safe environments and livable wages.
Food traditions and we support a sound investment in curating the culinary legacies as part of the sacred generational responsibility to document truth.
Mississippians and support the affordability and accessibility of healthy fresh food for all.
Mississippi farmers, fishers and food producers and support their deserving of fair pricing for local food production.
Labor and support living wages, non-exploitative and non-extractive work space policies that allow for the thriving of the working class communities.
Ethical stewardship of all natural resources, living beings and the restorative navigation of air, water, land, flora and fauna.
The health of the planet, the health of living beings and therefore support equitable investments in developing the culture of health in our communities.
Human stewardship of the ecosystem, and therefore support ethical treatment of animals that are part of our food cycles.