US Sec. of Agriculture to visit south, middle Georgia communities to discuss healthy food, equity

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will visit two Georgia communities this week to discuss access to healthy, fresh food and efforts to improve equity for food producers, as well as investments by the federal government aimed at economic improvements for small business owners and producers.

According to an advisory from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Vilsack will travel to south Georgia on Thursday for an event in Albany to speak at the USDA’s Regional Equity Convening for the Southeastern Region.

The Albany visit will include Vilsack’s participation in the Sherrod Institute’s Farm Field Day, where Vilsack is expected to highlight the USDA’s “ongoing and holistic efforts to center equity; lift barriers to inclusion or access; and address systemic discrimination or racial, economic, health and social disparities across the Department,” according to the department.

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On Friday, Vilsack will travel to Columbus in middle Georgia to join Rep. Sanford Bishop in an Investing in American Roundtable event.

In Columbus, Vilsack is expected to talk about how the USDA is working to create more rural prosperity and additional income opportunities for business owners and food producers by building more, new and better markets, as well as giving more options for shoppers to buy healthy, locally grown products, according to the USDA.

Additionally, Vilsack will be discussing infrastructure investments and job creation, along with efforts to strengthen local and regional supply chains in Georgia and across the United States as part of President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda.

The USDA said the investment plan by the Biden administration is aimed at rebuilding the U.S. economy from the middle out and bottom up while creating transformative economic opportunities for small and mid-size producers, families and busineses.

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