Food Deserts/Healthy Food Access

Jill ClarkMay 19, 2014

Food Deserts/Healthy Food Access

• Hunger to food security • Food security to community food security• Food deserts and healthy food access• Interventions– Groups working in central Ohio

• Upcoming Summit

Change from “hunger” to “food insecurity”Current USDA definitions

• Food insecurity: a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food. – Hunger is an individual-level physiological

condition that may result from food insecurity. – The condition assessed in the food security survey

and represented in USDA food security reports.

Food security

“All people at all times have access to enough food for a healthy, active life. At a minimum, food security includes the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods and the assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways (for example, without resorting to use of emergency food supplies, scavenging, stealing, and other coping strategies.)”

Community Food Security

Community food security is a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice.

--Mike Hamm and Anne Bellows

From short-term nutritional intake to a “livelihood” emphasis – in which sustainable livelihoods are considered to be necessary

Food Deserts

“Area in the United States with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly such an area composed of predominantly lower income neighborhoods and communities” (USDA, ERS, 2009). – How did we get here?– Food deserts versus healthy food access?– How do we operationalize the concept? And why

would we?

http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas.aspx#.U3fW69JdXGU

http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas.aspx#.U3fW69JdXGU

Ohio’s Rural Healthy Food Access Gaps

1,979,561

475,095

1,127,957

486,702

Rural Ohio Households

Why do we have food deserts

• Concentration and consolidation– Fewer, bigger stores– Cheaper items = value-added items = unhealthy

• Sprawl and the movement of wealth to suburbs– Retail follows residential– Disinvestment in inner city

• Redlining – Concentrated poverty– Making it historically difficult to invest

Population Density Change in Ohio’s Landscape

Table 5: Densities used for Settlement Types

Settlement Pattern:Population Density:(Persons per sq. mile)

Acres perHousing Unit:

Urban High Density: More than 5,000 Less than 1/3Urban Low Density: 1,000 to 5,000 1/3 to 1.5Suburban: 325 to 1,000 1.5 to 5Exurban: 40 to 325 5 to 40Rural: Less than 40 More than 40State Total: n/a n/a

From the store’s perspective

• Economies of scale, which is when the costs of operating a store decrease as store size increases

• Economies of scope, which is when the costs decrease as more product variety increases, suggests that larger stores that offer greater variety can do so and offer lower prices.

• Economies of agglomeration, where the costs of operating a store are lower when a store is located near other stores (e.g., because of roads or distribution systems), may explain why stores are concentrated in some areas and not in others.

From the store’s perspective

• Fixed costs - Food retailers that face higher fixed costs will either need to charge a higher price for goods sold or limit the range of products sold– Higher costs of land and rent in urban areas

• infrastructure

– Zoning costs might be higher (if area is even zoned for retail)

– More customers or customers who spend more = greater number of people you can spread fixed costs over

– Large retails sometimes can operate at a loss to keep others out.

USDA ERS Report to Congress

Findings of this study indicate that low-access to supermarkets is most heavily influenced by characteristics of neighborhood and household socioeconomic environments

• Extent of income inequality• Racial segregation• Transportation infrastructure• Housing vacancies• This lends support to the notion that there is indeed

a socioeconomic “contextual effect” that should be considered when designing food access policy.

USDA ERS Report to Congress

• Access to a supermarket or large grocery store is a problem for a small percentage of households– Disproportionately minority and low-income

• Supermarkets and large grocery stores have lower prices than smaller stores.

• Low-income households shop where food prices are lower, when they can.

USDA ERS Report to Congress

• Easy access to all food, rather than lack of access to specific healthy foods, may be a more important factor in explaining increases in obesity.

• Focus on connection just to health– Mixed results

• Increases in fruit consumption• Increased consumption of healthy food does not directly result in lower

BMI

– Correlation, not causation• Other purposes include economic development,

community development, safe neighborhoods…what about food as a right?

Food Swamps

http://www.arcgis.com/apps/StorytellingTextLegend/index.html?appid=f41f4504227b411c826fd8bcb7f5072b

Issues to consider when identifying areas with limited access….

• Food deserts versus “food access”• Absolute access versus shades of access• Limited versus adequate access• Actual versus potential access• Area-based versus individual-based measures• Food costs versus other costs• Correlation versus causation

Complexity of Access

• Physical access• Economic access• Healthy access• Cultural access• Safe access• Temporal access

Typical strategies for addressing food deserts

• Creating new retail outlets– Traditional model

– Alternative model (ex. EBT/WIC farmers markets, co-op)

• Utilizing alternative distribution methods– Mobile markets

• Developing new transportation opportunities– New bus routes, taxi vouchers

• Increasing the healthiness of food offerings at existing outlets

What is healthy retailing?

What is healthy retailing?

Franklinton, OhioChauncey, Ohio

Projects versus Policy

• Use licensing to mandate stores improve offerings

• Allow for healthy retailers through zoning• Provide incentives through zoning ordinance to

stores that offer healthy options• Restrict unhealthy land use through zoning or a

building moratorium.• Create a healthy small food retailer certification

program

Ex. of groups working on healthy food access

• Columbus Public Health• United Way of Central Ohio• Mid-Ohio Foodbank• Franklin County Local Food Council• MORPC

http://glennschool.osu.edu/

Food Deserts/Healthy Food Access

• Hunger to food security • Food security to community food security• Food deserts and healthy food access• Interventions– Groups working in central Ohio

• Upcoming Summit