Belize Service Trip

     While working in rural communities abroad, the disparities between rural and urban access to resources really caught my attention. This was highlighted in my second trip to Belize, which again focused on school garden initiatives and access to nutritious food for students, but split time between a school in an urban setting in addition to the school we had visited the previous year, which was in a rural setting; the differences in access between the two environments were stark. Rural environments throughout the world continue to be marginalized, and continued urbanization only continues to reinforce barriers to access and cycles of poverty.

While a recent increase in urban farming and gardening allows urban centers to utilize creative growing structures to maximize efficient use of space to increase local food shares, rural spaces remain the heart of most of the world’s food system. Promoting rural equality often goes hand in hand with promoting justice for farmers and food producers, and advocating for farmer justice is a key component to improving our food system as well as reducing rural poverty.