Big Plans for Former Southaven Landfill

(Southaven, MS) DeSoto County is planning on turning land that was once a landfill, into a place that will make the area a healthier and happier place to live.

“You can’t tell now, but over fifty years ago it was made into a landfill and when it was made a landfill, the people in the area were promised one day it would be a park,” said County Supervisor Lee Caldwell.

Desoto County plans to make good on that promise on Starlanding Road near Highway 51. 

Caldwell says the plans are to turn the 100 acres of land in Southhaven into an agricultural paradise. 

She told us it will include a kitchen, where people can learn how to take raw food and turn it into home-cooked meals, and a place where people can bring and ride their own horses.

“As this county has grown and developed, we have fewer and fewer areas to have the green space,” she said.  “And we are able to ride our horses or come together and learn about agriculture.”

“This is what provides the opportunity to say ‘hey, look this is where your food comes from’,” said Mississippi’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Cindy Hyde-Smith.

The Commissioner came down from Jackson to take a look at the plans and she says she is onboard with the idea, “All the schools in this area have children that have never been on a farm. They really don’t know where milk comes from.”

Hyde-Smith says she is going to help Desoto County bring the acres to life with hiking, learning, gardening ,and horseback riding.

“I just think it’s the total package,’ said Caldwell.

Caldwell says the project is still the in the planning phase, but the county plans to seek grants and state money for it soon.