Hunger Relief Meets Rural Economic Development - WNC Health Policy Podcast Ep. 21
Image Credit: Photo by Arina Krasnikova
What if food policy could also reduce healthcare costs, strengthen rural economies, support family farms, and build long-term resilience in Western North Carolina?
In this episode we explore how Food Hubs connect multiple regional priorities—from hunger relief and healthcare cost savings to farm viability, disaster recovery, and mental health.
Inspired by a recent conversation with epidemiologist Patrick Baron on food access post–Hurricane Helene, we turn our focus to one of the region’s newest food hubs: The Smoky Mountain Harvest Hub in Haywood County. Director Nicole Hinebaugh joins us to share how food hubs work, why they matter, and the impact of this kind of public investment.
You’ll hear:
How food-based health interventions already show a strong financial return on investment
How food hubs create stable markets for small family farms
What recent food insecurity data tells us about the urgency of action
Why supporting local food systems is essential to economic recovery, disaster resilience, and mental health
This conversation makes the case that when policy aligns food access, healthcare, and local agriculture, the benefits ripple far beyond the initial cost.
Listen via the audio bar above, or via Apple Podcasts or Spotify
About the WNC Health Policy Podcast: In each installment, we speak about different public health strategies for improving health and well-being in Western North Carolina (WNC). The WNC HPl is a collaboration between the NC Center for Health & Wellness at UNCA and MAHEC, with generous support from the Dogwood Health Trust.
Individual opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this podcast are those of the author(s)/interviewee(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the WNC Health Policy Initiative or its host institutions of the University of North Carolina Asheville (UNCA), Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) or our funders.
