NAACP hopes mobile farmers market will bring fresh produce to Jackson

JACKSON, Tenn. — The Jackson NAACP is hoping to spread fresh, locally grown greens across the Hub City.

“The mayor and the council have been so instrumental in supporting better health in the city,” NAACP member Ricky Brown said.

Tuesday, the NAACP will present a proposal to the mayor and City Council for a special bus to deliver fresh produce to residents. They especially want to focus on one in the Jackson area.

“To help the residents of east Jackson to have access to food products, fresh food products, fresh green vegetables and fruit,” NAACP Health Committee member Marcus Reaves said.

Reaves believes the bus can not only improve community health, but hopes it can stop a growing problem she says is plaguing the city.

“A bus that has fresh fruit and fresh vegetables that goes to different neighborhoods considered a ‘food desert,'” Reaves said.

The concept is modeled after the Green Machine Food Market operating in both Memphis and Baltimore.

The NAACP says this would operate similarly to a food truck but with fresh produce. The Farmers market in downtown Jackson is open on the weekends, but the bus would run all week long.

It’s a service Reaves says the community wants. “So far, the community says they see it as a need and thinks it would be very, very helpful to have healthy produce.”