Tomorrow’s leaders tackling some of today’s big issues at Mississippi State

MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV., Miss. (WCBI) – A conference at Mississippi State University has tomorrow’s leaders tackling some of the world’s pressing problems.

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences hosted the annual Food Prize Mississippi Youth Institute.

The event brings high school students from across the state together to discuss food insecurity and identify potential solutions.

Students are tasked with identifying groups that struggle with food insecurity, and which issues they’re facing, whether it’s the financial challenge of being able to afford food, distance to travel to buy food, and if the food that is readily available is high quality and nutritious.

The 2 main issues that pop up are availability and accessibility.

Students have also found that this isn’t just a world problem or a national problem, but very much a local one.

“A lot of people think that global insecurity with food is not really a problem in the United States, but we know in Mississippi it definitely is a problem here as well. There are Mississippians that go without food every single day, so that’s one of the things this institute brings awareness of for these high schoolers is that it’s not just an international problem. It’s a local problem, and it gets them thinking about how to address those issues in their local community.”

“And a lot of people don’t have access, either because they can’t get to a grocery store very easily. They may be handicapped. They may not have a car, or car’s not working out, or because they can’t afford it. So, you have to address the access issue at the same time you’re looking at the availability issue. And that’s a big message.”

It’s estimated that around 15%

of Mississippi Households experience food insecurity in some form, with that number being higher in rural areas..