Blog Post 5: Virginia's Food Desert: Community Gardens as a Solution

After watching Virginia State University’s documentary Living in a Food Desert (2015), I realised that this concept was one that I knew almost nothing about. 

A food desert is defined by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention as ‘areas that lack access to affordable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk, and other foods that make up the full range of a healthy diet.’ (2011). These food deserts are usually concentrated in impoverished areas and are often so localised that the more affluent areas of a particular community may not even realise that there is a problem. According to the documentary (2015), in the state of Virginia, 17.8% of the population live in a food desert, with 16.5% of children food insecure. The reliance on food banks for groceries is increasing year on year, with 142 million pounds of foodstuffs in 2014, compared to 45 million pounds in 2005. 

Food Deserts and Health

Without access to supermarkets, the community are forced to buy from convenience stores which stock processed foods containing ‘empty calories’. As a result, diseases related to malnutrition such as obesity and high blood pressure are prevalent in these areas. 

A study across four US states showed that when supermarkets were located in residential areas, there were lower levels of obesity of 24% (Ghosh-Dastidar et al, 2014: 587). The instalment of supermarkets as a solution to the prevalence of obesity however may not be the best solution, particularly if healthier foods are contained within a higher price bracket compared to junk food, which also acts as a ‘a barrier to access’ (588). 

In Richmond, Virginia, a local initiative called the Tricycle Gardens was set up to deliver fresh fruit and vegetables to convenience stores to increase accessibility to nutritional foods. Tricycle offers free samples for customers and recipes on how to incorporate ingredients into meals, because some members of the community may never have cooked with fresh vegetables before. However, the problem I can see with this initiative is that there is still a disconnect between agricultural process and the food being sold in store. Another way of increasing accessibility to fresh vegetables in food desert areas is through community gardens, which is an approach that can bring about increased 

Community Gardens as A Solution

In the Living in a Food Desert documentary, John Matheson, president of directors at Lynchburg Grows, recalls how many children who visit Lynchburg’s urban farm cannot identify the fruit and vegetables because they have never been in contact with them or seen them in their natural form. With access only to processed foods, children see tomatoes as ‘pizza sauce’. 

Community gardens are situated in urban areas and allow residents of the local community to grow their own food. This is particularly important for children, to increase their awareness of nutrition and the components of a healthy diet. They can encourage  learning as a ‘social process’, developing relationships between ‘educators and learners’ to create an increased sense of community purpose (Clavin, 2009:1). 

Community gardens are often on smaller plots of land, which allows the community to develop strategic goals about harvesting cycles depending on resources and their local climate, as well as highlighting the importance of recycling and re-using and reducing waste (2). Members of the community are able to directly understand the limits of the environment whilst actively engaging with sustainable practices such as the use of solar panels and rainwater harvesting (2-3).

Clavin (2009:4) sums up the importance of community gardens:

‘Because taking part provides so many enjoyable experiences, community garden projects can bridge the gap between valuing a sustainable life and having the enabling skills to act on such values’.

Community Gardens in Virginia

In Arlington County, Virginia, there are currently seven community gardens with 300 individual plots. However, due to high demand there are waiting lists and plots are limited to one per family. It is therefore obvious that the community do want to be involved, and the next step could be the wider implementation of these gardens, particularly on brownfield sites to increase the county’s food growing capacity. Having access to fresh produce will not only benefit the people’s health, but also builds a sense of purpose, agency and community.

Bibliography 

Arlington County Government (2018) Community Gardens. [online] available at: https://environment.arlingtonva.us/gardens/community-gardens/ accessed on 04/11/18

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017) A Look Inside Food Deserts. [online] available at: https://www.cdc.gov/features/fooddeserts/ accessed on 04/11/18

Clavin, A. (2009) Community Gardening: Skills for building community and working within environmental limits. In Stibbe, A. (Ed) (2009) The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy

Ghosh-Dastidar, B., et al. (2014) Distance to Store, Food Prices, and Obesity in Urban Food Deserts. In: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 47(5): 587-595

Virginia State University (2015) Living in a Food Desert. [online] available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jicYbi-8ZNU accessed on 04/11/18