Rows of fresh turnips, okra and watermelons were the images Helen Godfrey Smith had in mind when she visualized farmland in the Mississippi Delta.

"While the Delta has been a vibrant community, that's not the case anymore," said Godfrey Smith, president/CEO of the $102 million Shreveport Federal Credit Union in Shreveport, La. "What's happening is casinos are moving in, the older people who have farms – the younger people are just not interested in farming. With that in mind, we began to look at what we can do."

What the credit union found were swaths of food deserts or urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy and affordable food, as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Instead of supermarkets and grocery stores, these communities were often served by fast food restaurants and convenience stores. The USDA's Economic Research Service said 23.5 million people live in food deserts, more than half of them low-income.