Today’s Rural Resources staff describes themselves as “a bunch of folks who love to eat!” Their awesome work for sustainable agriculture shows that they must also be firm believers in the “you are what you eat” mantra.

For those of you that are scratching your heads right now, “sustainable agriculture” is farming that doesn’t cause long-term damage to the land or rural communities. The goal is to preserve the environment while maintaining productivity and supporting local farm families. With sustainable agriculture, we can hope to pass on a conserved or even improved ecosystem to our grandchildren, and not one that is destroyed or polluted.

ANYWAY, Karen Childress co-founded Rural Resources in 1996 in an attempt to bring sustainable agriculture to the family farms of Appalachia. The organization is dedicated not only to preserving and improving farm land, they’re also committed to the community: through education about sustainable agricultural practices, preserving the community’s rural heritage, and making locally produced farm products available.

Today, Rural Resources works for this commitment through a variety of programs, including the Farm to Community Food Project, which makes sustainable agriculture programs available to underserved neighborhoods available to underserved neighborhoods, the Farm Day Camp for local kids, and the Downtown Greenville Farmers’ Market.