Can Local Farmers and Healthcare Leaders Rescue Kentucky’s Appalachia, and Other Pockets of America, From Chronic Disease?

By Jennifer Galardi, Special to The MAHA Report

Earlier this month, in Louisville, Kentucky, farmers, healthcare leaders, and state officials convened an agricultural summit with a shared purpose: to bring MAHA solutions to the Appalachian region, an often-forgotten part of the country that has carried some of America’s heaviest chronic disease burdens.

Kentucky is not alone. Along with West Virginia and Ohio, it is among a small clutch of states with the highest rates of obesity and the poorest health outcomes. These states, and pockets within states, also struggle with the most strained healthcare systems. Going into the summit, the energizing question was: How, in such hurting states in particular, can we make America Healthy Again?

The Appalachian Proud Commissioners’ Summit: a Multi-State MAHA Strategy, held on November 14 at the Kentucky Exposition Center, showcased the MAHA ‘Food-as-Medicine’ approach, a simple but powerful idea that fresh, whole foods, grown by local farmers, can become the foundation of healthier communities.

Brie Cox, the producer of the historic event, said that putting farmers in direct contact with healthcare systems, and opening a path for them to sell their produce and products directly to hospitals, schools and other state-run institutions, will have an immediate impact on the health and prosperity of the region.

Sixty leaders from ten states gathered to explore their role in the Food-as-Medicine pipeline and to work together on shared challenges.

Cox said the event was a “unique opportunity to convene state agriculture departments, growers, producers, and relevant integrated industry partners to elevate the economic opportunity of making America healthy again, specifically for small and medium sized farming operations and rural health systems.

By the end of the gathering, leaders from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, and Georgia had signed the Advancing Appalachian Agriculture Compact, pledging to build a shared model of economic development rooted in health, local food, and rural revitalization.

Cox stated that getting agricultural and healthcare leaders in a room together allowed them to share best practices across states where there are similar populations and needs. She said that this helped representatives from a variety of sectors in each state realize that they are “more similar than not.” Cox believes this kind of cooperation has the ability to not only enhance wellness, but also to promote community engagement from the farm to the dinner table.

The idea of incentivizing states to cooperate with each other originated from a successful Kentucky model that inspires consumers to buy local and support adjacent states with underserved and under-resourced ag producers.

The “Kentucky Proud” and “Appalachia Proud” programs assure consumers that all or a portion of the products they consume, whether beef, produce or other inputs, are sourced from local suppliers. This model strengthens regional agriculture, restores trust in the food system, and reconnects people with their local growers.

John Klar, a MAHA Report contributor and farmer who lives in Vermont, called the summit “an exciting milestone in American health.”

He continued, “The Kentucky and the Appalachia consortium are at the forefront of making Americans healthier by increasing the availability of fresh, whole foods for hospital patients, schoolchildren, and low-income citizens. This initiative will improve health outcomes for some of the nation’s sickest populations, providing evidence that fresh, local foods can truly make Americans healthier.”

His message echoes something HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long championed: that the path to a stronger, more resilient nation starts with clean food, healthy soil, and empowered communities.

Another focus of the summit was the physical and mental health of the farmers themselves. Farmers are the backbone of America’s food supply, and their health and welfare is vital. Dale Dobson, the director of farm safety and rural health for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, emphasized the importance of human connection. In other words, looking farmers in the eye, shaking their hands, and giving them your word brings local producers hope for a viable future.

Thinking one year ahead, Cox hopes she will report progress in Appalachia – hard data that its residents are well on the road to becoming healthy again.

In all, the Kentucky summit provided a MAHA-inspired vision of how agriculture, healthcare and community can work together to change vital parts of the country, plagued by chronic disease, into national models for health sovereignty, rural revitalization, and community-based wellness.

As Cox put it, the goal is simple: to make every community in Appalachia healthy, resilient, and proud.