Jones Valley Teaching Farm uses food as a foundation so young people can lead, create, and grow a healthy future for themselves and their community. JVTF’s flagship program, Good School Food, is a Pre-K-12 food-based education framework rooted in academic standards delivered to Birmingham City School students by JVTF Instructors. Through cross-curricular experiential lessons during school, after school, and at home, students use food, farming, and the culinary arts as a foundation for academic exploration, leadership, and pursuit of pathways to full-time employment or higher education.

The Deep South Food Alliance (DSFA) is a network of organizations, producers, and aggregators in southeast, central, and west Alabama and eastern Mississippi. Organized in 2012, DSFA is a coalition of individuals and organizations across the Black Belt who share a guiding objective: to advance historically disadvantaged rural communities by supporting agriculture economies, particularly low-resource smallholder farmers of color.

Over a decade ago, community leaders and members of the Cullman Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Committee had a vision of a facility that would showcase the importance of agriculture to future generations. In 2000, the Alabama Legislature established the North Alabama Agriplex Board. Its purpose is to educate and create awareness of agriculture in Alabama.