The Kentucky Department of Agriculture is launching the state’s first Hunger Initiative involving farmers, businesses, charitable organizations, government agencies to tackle food insecurity in the state.
Next week, an assembled Hunger Task Force will meet in Shelbyville to discuss methods for lowering the number of food insecure households in the state.
"The members of the task force will bring their unique perspectives to this persistent problem,” said Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles. "By bringing together the people who grow our food, sell our food, and distribute our food, we hope to find novel approaches that could help to alleviate the underlying issues of hunger in Kentucky.”
An annual study, entitled Map the Meal Gap, by the Feeding America Network shows that 17 percent of Kentucky is food insecure.
Click here to see 2014 map breaking down food insecurity by Kentucky county
Food insecurity refers to a household’s lack of access to enough food for all household members and a limited availability of nutritionally adequate foods.
Most western Kentucky counties are at or below the 15% national average of food insecurity but two outliers are Fulton and Christian Counties.
Christian, with a population of 73,000 and 5.8 % unemployment rate has a 20% food insecurity rate.
Fulton County, Kentucky most southwest county on the Mississippi River, has a population of 6,200 and a 10% unemployment rate but a 21.7% food insecurity rate.
The report says there is a strong correlation between food insecurity and unemployment per capita.
The goal of the task force will be to highlight factors contributing to the crisis, including the distance in rural counties between households and food markets. Their first meeting is June 2nd.
