Locally grown food is healthier for people, for the environment and definitely better for the economy, Jim Embry says.

Embry, the director of the Sustainable Communities Network, would like see every school, every church and every empty lot in Kentucky sprout a garden. The organization is sponsoring a Bluegrass Food Security Summit this week in Lexington, Ky., about local agriculture and reduced use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Erick Walles, who owns a 10-acre organic farm in Fayette County, Ky., said, "Every bite you take has traveled at least 1,500 miles. Transportation costs and the amount of petroleum used by trucks and ships to haul food coast-to-coast and around the world is enormous."

Read the full story at kentucky.com.