(Photo by Nick Blumberg - KJZZ)

There are a number of food deserts in and around Maricopa County - areas in which residents have little-to-no access to healthy food.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been trying to reduce that number in Arizona and across the country. Sara Eckhouse is senior advisor to the USDA secretary. She talked about the role of schools in reducing food deserts. 

Cindy Gentry is food systems coordinator for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health and the state lead for the National Farm to School Network. She spoke about the role schools play in trying to alleviate food deserts.