CFFPI - Identifying Food Deserts in Rural OhioPIs: Jill Clark and Francis Muamba Access to affordable and nutritious food by low income and rural communities has long been a concern to advocates, policymakers, and the general public. In the past, these concerns led to the creation of programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program), the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) which grants vouchers to buy specific nutritious foods at authorized grocery stores, and the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. Despite the advent of these food assistance programs, some low income rural communities are still considered food deserts. Consequently, the Ohio Food Policy Council is interested in understanding the extent of food deserts in rural Ohio for the purpose of recommending methods to reduce inadequate food accessibility in those communities. The language in the 2008 Farm Bill defined a food deserts as an “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” (Title VI, Sec. 7527). In practical terms the method for identifying food deserts in this policy brief uses three broad aspects of accessibility; geographic accessibility, economic accessibility, and healthy accessibility; with the assumption that most rural Ohioans purchase their fresh and nutritious food from retail food outlets.
Timeline: This research is expected to be completed by December 2009. |
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