Most people know that the vast majority of agricultural production in the United States happens in rural areas. Few know that three quarters of America’s hungriest counties are rural.

In the modern United States, urban hunger is more visible than rural hunger. Hungry urban populations are more geographically concentrated, and large crowds can often be seen waiting outside food distribution centers in the city. Marches, protests, and murals call attention to the food access barriers urban communities face. New small-scale urban agriculture movements visibly promote food access by adding vegetation back into the concrete jungle. Urban food justice movements have made headlines by moving past traditional food pantry models to promote local, fresh produce and to get urban residents involved with their food systems.

In contrast, the food insecure populations of rural and farming communities in the US are widely dispersed, and significantly less publicized. It is hard to imagine a farming community as hungry, when it is surrounded by extensive fields of commodity crops that feed and fuel the world. It is hard to imagine that the owners of a small-scale family farm are unsure if they will be able to put food on the table tomorrow, but many are.

Rural anti-hunger work is still largely based on a food pantry and food bank model, and some of the hungriest communities remain hours away from their nearest food distribution source. Rural food justice efforts to close this access gap face vastly different challenges, and have received much less media attention than their urban counterparts.

This semester, I will be exploring the untold stories of rural hunger in the United States, and of those fighting against it. What unique approaches have been adapted to meet the needs of rural food systems and to provide communities with the nutritious, affordable, and culturally affirming food they need? Why haven’t we heard about them before? What can rural food reformers learn from their urban counterparts? Has a focus on urban food justice movements left rural America’s hunger in the shadows?