Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food—Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences: Report to Congress
Michele Ver Ploeg, Vince Breneman, Tracey Farrigan, Karen Hamrick, David Hopkins, Phil Kaufman, Biing-Hwan Lin, Mark Nord, Travis Smith, Ryan Williams, Kelly Kinnison, Carol Olander, Anita Singh, and Elizabeth Tuckermanty
Administrative Publication No. (AP-036) 160 pp,
June 2009
This report fills a request for a study of food deserts—areas with limited access to affordable and nutritious food—from the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. The report summarizes findings of a national-level assessment of the extent and characteristics of food deserts, analysis of the consequences of food deserts, lessons learned from related Federal programs, and a discussion of policy options for alleviating the effects of food deserts. Overall, findings show that a small percentage of consumers are constrained in their ability to access affordable nutritious food because they live far from a supermarket or large grocery store and do not have easy access to transportation.
Keywords: Food deserts, food access, supermarkets, grocery stores, food prices, low-income communities, rural areas, urban areas, small towns, transportation, obesity, diet, poverty, policy options, ERS, USDA
In this report ... Chapters are
in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
- Abstract, Contents, and Summary, 228 kb.
- Introduction, 73 kb.
- The Extent of Limited Food Access in the United States, 2,257 kb.
- The Interaction of Neighborhood and Household Characteristics in Explaining Areas With Limited Access, 82 kb.
- Food Access and Its Relationship to Diet and Health Outcomes, 68 kb.
- Food Access and Its Relationship To Food Choice, 122 kb.
- The Economics of Supermarket and Grocery Store Location, 60 kb.
- Community Food Projects, 89 kb.
- Policy Options, 163 kb.
- Future Research Needs, 53 kb.
- Appendix A: Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food:
Understanding Food Deserts, 40 kb.
- Appendix B: Measures of Access Used in Food Desert and Related Studies, 186 kb.
- Appendix C: Methods, Supporting Tables, and Maps for
National-Level Analysis of Supermarket Access, 689 kb.
- Appendix D: Examples of Community Food Projects
by Type of Project, 76 kb.
Charts and graphs (in .png format) from this report are available in the .zip file listed below. The .zip file also contains a document (readme.txt) that lists the name and title of each chart or graph file.
Order this report (stock #AP-036)
Updated date: June 25, 2009
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