EDGE's Bumps in the Road podcast
We here at EDGE want to understand the region's economy, its movers and shakers, its people called to public service, its nonprofit sector, and
its people who keep persevering.
We want to know what keeps them keeping on even when they experience
Bumps in the Road.
That is why we started this series and share it with you.
its people who keep persevering.
We want to know what keeps them keeping on even when they experience
Bumps in the Road.
That is why we started this series and share it with you.
Click on the logo below to go to the public site for the Bumps in the Road Podcast on Anchor.
This link will take you to ways to listen on Spotify and directly from the web.
This link will take you to ways to listen on Spotify and directly from the web.
You can also click on recent episodes directly below.
Media about EDGE
2023
On Appodlachia-- Bringing Black Agriculture to Appalachia
https://open.spotify.com/episode/09pcRFvaaXPOcmyiefUWKl?si=2z1_izsgR9O5xqvyLtoAvg&fbclid=IwAR2p1Wh95fOijjBMscTU-1gzg6RCWT11U_TzEyGU2un-ryRnOPlOP_LBLeY&nd=1
2022
Jason Tartt on W. Kamau Bell show United Shades of America
https://www.bdtonline.com/news/mcdowell-county-man-to-be-featured-on-cnn-show/article_5f61dd0a-037e-11ed-a6ca-7b31c3585941.html
McDowell County Man Featured on CNN
https://news.yahoo.com/mcdowell-county-man-featured-cnn-115500035.html
New Brand Highlights Foods and Farms of Appalachia
https://journalnow.com/entertainment/dining/new-brand-highlights-foods-farms-of-appalachia-winston-salem-company-is-a-partner/article_b51911b2-06d2-11ed-a6b2-2383d6b3addd.html
Black Farmers are Rebuilding Agriculture in Coal Country in Yes Magazine
https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/2022/01/10/black-farmers-agriculture-appalachia
2021
Black Farmers Struggle for Finance and Support in West Virginia
https://blackbygod.org/articles/community/black-farmers-struggle-for-finance-and-support-in-west-virginia
Read the full feature article from the March 14, 2021 Gazette-Mail at: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/group-works-to-open-community-grocery-in-food-insecure-mcdowell-county/article_782a57e9-5e3e-5ec4-95d1-f2a988c5210e.html
EDGE is also so grateful for the support of the editors at the Gazette-Mail in their March 16 edition.
Gazette-Mail editorial: Effort to bring fresh food to McDowell a huge step
Mar 16, 2021
It’s rare to see a Walmart go out of business. The stores change their locations in the same communities all the time — usually when locally granted tax breaks are about to expire. A branch of the retail behemoth actually shutting down, though, is almost unheard of.
Yet, that’s what happened in McDowell County in 2016, when the Walmart near Kimball closed its doors for good.
When something like that occurs, it’s devastating for a community on multiple fronts, especially rural ones, like those in McDowell County. There’s the loss of local jobs to consider. Like it or not, Walmart is one of the largest employers in the state.
Of course, with lower prices and so much under one roof, Walmart’s business model long ago began eliminating locally owned outfits looking to compete in small towns across the country. When the Walmart goes under, there’s typically nothing left close by for important goods, especially when it comes to necessities like groceries.
There are several places in West Virginia that are classified as “food deserts” — communities with no nearby places to obtain fresh meat, produce and other staples required for basic nourishment. This leads to a decline in health, as residents rely more on fast food or heavily processed junk foods available at local convenience marts or dollar stores. And so, health and quality of life — two categories in which West Virginia typically ranks near the bottom in the country — take another hit.
For the most part, the plight of these communities goes perhaps not unacknowledged but largely unchanged. That’s why local action to address these problems is so important.
A good example is Economic Development Greater East, a nonprofit in McDowell County gearing up to open a community grocery store in Kimball. The group also works to establish and explore local agricultural projects. The two aims merge well together, when considering how important a local food supply can be.
A community grocery store selling items produced by local farmers and artisans lifts all boats. It also helps to get local residents interested in agriculture, bolstering the amount of food or other goods available while perhaps putting some extra money in their pockets.
It’s a fledgling effort, but McDowell County is one of the poorest communities with one of the lowest life expectancies, not just in West Virginia, but the entire country. If no one is going to come to them, local initiatives like the Mountain Farm Community Grocery are a necessary step forward. And any step forward is a sign of hope and the potential for a better tomorrow in a place so many have simply forgotten.
More media!
EDGE partnered with farm lender Go Steward for a bridge loan for Mountain Farm Community Grocery: https://gosteward.com/projects/economic-development-greater-east/rural-community-grocer-renovations
Mountain Farm Community Grocery Featured on WVNS, 2021: https://www.wvnstv.com/top-stories/volunteer-organization-trying-to-create-community-grocery-in-mcdowell-county/
Mountain Farm Community Grocery Featured in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, 2021: https://www.bdtonline.com/news/non-profit-seeks-to-bring-new-grocery-to-longtime-food-desert-in-kimball/article_42770644-8aac-11eb-ac39-17c11afad5ec.html
About EDGE co-founder and advisor, Crystal Cook Marshall: https://barnard.edu/magazine/summer-2018/down-earth
American Youth Agripreneur Association: https://www.facebook.com/ayaacareerbuilding/
McDowell County Farms Agricultural Cooperative:
http://www.wvva.com/story/36091784/2017/08/08/mcdowell-county-farms-teaches-residents-new?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=13571957
https://youtu.be/-9W2--pQ70w
https://spark.adobe.com/video/vVLCs2RzO4TaN
http://wvpublic.org/post/what-happens-when-walmart-closes-one-coal-community
https://youtu.be/9HyJVZbJUFo
Additional Resources
Food Deserts
Why Community Owned Grocery Stores Are the Best Solutions to Food Deserts:
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/community-owned-grocery-stores-revitalizing-food-deserts
Definition and Locations across the US: https://socialwork.tulane.edu/blog/food-deserts-in-america
Food Deserts and Income Inequality: one and the same: https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/01/its-not-the-food-deserts-its-the-inequality/550793/
Financial resources limit food choice: https://news.ncsu.edu/2017/03/money-food-deserts-2017/
Junk Food Swamps
Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss, 2013
Food as affordable reward when you are poor: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-singh-food-deserts-nutritional-disparities-20180207-story.html
Why Is American Food So Cheap?: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/01/why-is-american-food-so-cheap/33259/
Fast Food Genocide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGdQr-D4NoA&feature=youtu.be
Management Intensive Grazing
ROI and MiG
https://www.cias.wisc.edu/the-social-implications-of-management-intensive-grazing-a-bibliography/
https://www.cias.wisc.edu/management-intensive-rotational-grazings-senseand-dollars/
Mathematical analysis of improved management and grazing: file:///home/chronos/u-9b207fd1a426d25e1786a0ea8582c5e4504c1ea3/Downloads/8161-8042-2-PB.pdf
Holistic Management Success Stories: https://holisticmanagement.org/holistic-management/success-stories/holisticmanagement.org/holistic-management/success-stories/
MiG and Practice
http://sustainagga.caes.uga.edu/systems/management-intensive-grazing.html
Stockman Grass Farmer: https://www.stockmangrassfarmer.com/Store/index.php?productID=724
Graze Magazine: http://www.grazeonline.com/
Maple Production
The Southern Syrup Research Symposium
Future Generations: https://www.future.edu/maple/
Single Sector Economies/Automation
I've Seen the Future and It Looks Like Appalachia, by EDGE Board Member Travis Lowe
Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and the Economy: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/12/20/artificial-intelligence-automation-and-economy
On Appodlachia-- Bringing Black Agriculture to Appalachia
https://open.spotify.com/episode/09pcRFvaaXPOcmyiefUWKl?si=2z1_izsgR9O5xqvyLtoAvg&fbclid=IwAR2p1Wh95fOijjBMscTU-1gzg6RCWT11U_TzEyGU2un-ryRnOPlOP_LBLeY&nd=1
2022
Jason Tartt on W. Kamau Bell show United Shades of America
https://www.bdtonline.com/news/mcdowell-county-man-to-be-featured-on-cnn-show/article_5f61dd0a-037e-11ed-a6ca-7b31c3585941.html
McDowell County Man Featured on CNN
https://news.yahoo.com/mcdowell-county-man-featured-cnn-115500035.html
New Brand Highlights Foods and Farms of Appalachia
https://journalnow.com/entertainment/dining/new-brand-highlights-foods-farms-of-appalachia-winston-salem-company-is-a-partner/article_b51911b2-06d2-11ed-a6b2-2383d6b3addd.html
Black Farmers are Rebuilding Agriculture in Coal Country in Yes Magazine
https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/2022/01/10/black-farmers-agriculture-appalachia
2021
Black Farmers Struggle for Finance and Support in West Virginia
https://blackbygod.org/articles/community/black-farmers-struggle-for-finance-and-support-in-west-virginia
Read the full feature article from the March 14, 2021 Gazette-Mail at: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/group-works-to-open-community-grocery-in-food-insecure-mcdowell-county/article_782a57e9-5e3e-5ec4-95d1-f2a988c5210e.html
EDGE is also so grateful for the support of the editors at the Gazette-Mail in their March 16 edition.
Gazette-Mail editorial: Effort to bring fresh food to McDowell a huge step
Mar 16, 2021
It’s rare to see a Walmart go out of business. The stores change their locations in the same communities all the time — usually when locally granted tax breaks are about to expire. A branch of the retail behemoth actually shutting down, though, is almost unheard of.
Yet, that’s what happened in McDowell County in 2016, when the Walmart near Kimball closed its doors for good.
When something like that occurs, it’s devastating for a community on multiple fronts, especially rural ones, like those in McDowell County. There’s the loss of local jobs to consider. Like it or not, Walmart is one of the largest employers in the state.
Of course, with lower prices and so much under one roof, Walmart’s business model long ago began eliminating locally owned outfits looking to compete in small towns across the country. When the Walmart goes under, there’s typically nothing left close by for important goods, especially when it comes to necessities like groceries.
There are several places in West Virginia that are classified as “food deserts” — communities with no nearby places to obtain fresh meat, produce and other staples required for basic nourishment. This leads to a decline in health, as residents rely more on fast food or heavily processed junk foods available at local convenience marts or dollar stores. And so, health and quality of life — two categories in which West Virginia typically ranks near the bottom in the country — take another hit.
For the most part, the plight of these communities goes perhaps not unacknowledged but largely unchanged. That’s why local action to address these problems is so important.
A good example is Economic Development Greater East, a nonprofit in McDowell County gearing up to open a community grocery store in Kimball. The group also works to establish and explore local agricultural projects. The two aims merge well together, when considering how important a local food supply can be.
A community grocery store selling items produced by local farmers and artisans lifts all boats. It also helps to get local residents interested in agriculture, bolstering the amount of food or other goods available while perhaps putting some extra money in their pockets.
It’s a fledgling effort, but McDowell County is one of the poorest communities with one of the lowest life expectancies, not just in West Virginia, but the entire country. If no one is going to come to them, local initiatives like the Mountain Farm Community Grocery are a necessary step forward. And any step forward is a sign of hope and the potential for a better tomorrow in a place so many have simply forgotten.
More media!
EDGE partnered with farm lender Go Steward for a bridge loan for Mountain Farm Community Grocery: https://gosteward.com/projects/economic-development-greater-east/rural-community-grocer-renovations
Mountain Farm Community Grocery Featured on WVNS, 2021: https://www.wvnstv.com/top-stories/volunteer-organization-trying-to-create-community-grocery-in-mcdowell-county/
Mountain Farm Community Grocery Featured in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, 2021: https://www.bdtonline.com/news/non-profit-seeks-to-bring-new-grocery-to-longtime-food-desert-in-kimball/article_42770644-8aac-11eb-ac39-17c11afad5ec.html
About EDGE co-founder and advisor, Crystal Cook Marshall: https://barnard.edu/magazine/summer-2018/down-earth
American Youth Agripreneur Association: https://www.facebook.com/ayaacareerbuilding/
McDowell County Farms Agricultural Cooperative:
http://www.wvva.com/story/36091784/2017/08/08/mcdowell-county-farms-teaches-residents-new?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=13571957
https://youtu.be/-9W2--pQ70w
https://spark.adobe.com/video/vVLCs2RzO4TaN
http://wvpublic.org/post/what-happens-when-walmart-closes-one-coal-community
https://youtu.be/9HyJVZbJUFo
Additional Resources
Food Deserts
Why Community Owned Grocery Stores Are the Best Solutions to Food Deserts:
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/community-owned-grocery-stores-revitalizing-food-deserts
Definition and Locations across the US: https://socialwork.tulane.edu/blog/food-deserts-in-america
Food Deserts and Income Inequality: one and the same: https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/01/its-not-the-food-deserts-its-the-inequality/550793/
Financial resources limit food choice: https://news.ncsu.edu/2017/03/money-food-deserts-2017/
Junk Food Swamps
Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss, 2013
Food as affordable reward when you are poor: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-singh-food-deserts-nutritional-disparities-20180207-story.html
Why Is American Food So Cheap?: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/01/why-is-american-food-so-cheap/33259/
Fast Food Genocide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGdQr-D4NoA&feature=youtu.be
Management Intensive Grazing
ROI and MiG
https://www.cias.wisc.edu/the-social-implications-of-management-intensive-grazing-a-bibliography/
https://www.cias.wisc.edu/management-intensive-rotational-grazings-senseand-dollars/
Mathematical analysis of improved management and grazing: file:///home/chronos/u-9b207fd1a426d25e1786a0ea8582c5e4504c1ea3/Downloads/8161-8042-2-PB.pdf
Holistic Management Success Stories: https://holisticmanagement.org/holistic-management/success-stories/holisticmanagement.org/holistic-management/success-stories/
MiG and Practice
http://sustainagga.caes.uga.edu/systems/management-intensive-grazing.html
Stockman Grass Farmer: https://www.stockmangrassfarmer.com/Store/index.php?productID=724
Graze Magazine: http://www.grazeonline.com/
Maple Production
The Southern Syrup Research Symposium
Future Generations: https://www.future.edu/maple/
Single Sector Economies/Automation
I've Seen the Future and It Looks Like Appalachia, by EDGE Board Member Travis Lowe
Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and the Economy: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/12/20/artificial-intelligence-automation-and-economy
