I was in Ames, Iowa, this week for the Iowa Rural Summit, a two-day event organized by the Iowa Rural Development Council.

They are a great nonprofit bringing the public and private sectors together to support small towns and agriculture areas. Building thriving rural areas is important to our food systems work at Food Tank—and it’s also deeply personal to me.

I’m from Defiance, Missouri—and proud of being from the rural Midwest. Growing up, I saw the challenges faced by rural communities first-hand, and I also was deeply affected by the stereotypes against those of us who lived “out in the country.” The lack of attention paid to rural food systems is a massive barrier, both culturally and politically, and it’s beyond time to address it.

We need a new narrative when it comes to rural, says Kathleen Merrigan, the Executive Director for the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems and the former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture.

“Rural is not a monolithic thing. Rural is as different from one county, from one place, to the next,” Merrigan says. “Every part of the federal government needs to stand up and do more for rural America if we’re going to change this narrative.”

To support thriving rural areas, every part of the food system needs to recognize that people are more important than profit.

Read the full article about rural revitalization by Danielle Nierenberg at Food Tank.