Reviving Rural Food Systems: Gila Valley & Superior

In March, residents throughout Small Town Arizona faced a new and harsh reality as heightened demand for food in the Metro-Phoenix area resulted in emptied shelves in rural communities. Arizona’s food system, one that had become progressively more globalized over time, had finally yielded local consequences. Rural Arizona could no longer ignore trends where farms had been reporting increasingly negative revenue while communities simultaneously suffered from alarmingly high rates of food insecurity and increases in diet-related disease. 

Looking to communities like Ajo (once a food desert, now a vibrant food hub that celebrates ancient grains and heritage foods) community leaders in the Gila Valley and Superior recognized the need to make local food a focus in rebuilding a more healthy, resilient community following COVID-19. They partnered with Local First Arizona, Flinn Foundation, and Vitalyst Health Foundation to strengthen local food systems and launch an Eat Local campaign working through three actionable stages; Data Collection & Research, Capacity Building, and Branding & Marketing. 

Previously, the Copper Communities had participated in a Food Hub Feasibility study that highlighted the interest and needs for a local and regional food hub. A hub that could simultaneously support food entrepreneurs to diversify the local economy and increase access to local food. Many residents of the Cooper Corridor rely on Superior for their local market, with a high number of rural residents traveling more than 20 miles to purchase their weekly groceries.

Gila Valley faced a similar, yet different challenge. The community has an abundance of food producers including ranchers, farmers, and bakers, but the average local consumer has no way to access foods being produced nearby. 

To combat this, both communities have rallied behind local food systems. Superior has been hard at work supporting the Farm to Fantastic Farmer’s Market and the Main Street Food Court to ensure that locals can access and enjoy locally produced food. The Gila Valley Food Coalition was inspired to take their Farmer’s Market to the next level, recognizing the traditional once a week event just wasn’t effective and thus transitioning to a daily pop-up market in the Graham County Chamber of Commerce building. This created a distribution opportunity for small batch producers and gave local residents consistent access to locally produced food. Local First AZ has also officially launched the GoodFoodFinder.com directory in both communities. Local food producers in the Gila Valley and Superior are now a quick GFF search away!

With more capacity and value placed in local food; the time to launch “Eat Local” campaigns each of these communities is “ripe”. Beginning in September, the Eat Local Superior and Eat Local Gila Valley campaigns will launch. These campaigns will shine a spotlight on the community’s passionate food producers, educate locals on why and how they can access local food, and celebrate local food as a pillar in connection to place. Promotional totes, stickers, videos, and other educational content will be circulated throughout the community with a goal of increasing traffic to the local Good Food Finder directory and to the local community markets working so hard to improve access to healthy, local foods. 

Learn more at GoodFoodFinderAZ.com/GilaValley and GoodFoodFinderAZ.com/Superior

Interested in learning about how to bring health, food system development work to your community, email us at azrdc@localfirstaz.com.