Poverty and Food Sufficiency


This month I decided to put myself on a healthy eating cleanse. To it sum up, what I was allowed to eat was homemade food, no preservatives, white meat and lots of fresh produce. Luckily I live in Seattle where Food Security is high and those percentage of people that live in poverty is normal with national standards.

While visiting Jacksonville Florida over MLK weekend for a conference, I tried to head to a grocery store to pick up produce in order to avoid breaking my rules. The only neighbor hood that was located close by downtown Jacksonville was a sketchy Winn Dixie that had minimal produce.

Seattle has a lower percentage of Low Income inhabitants and a MUCH lower percent of minorities than does Jacksonville FA. As we have been studying with EJ, is is expected that due to the increase in low-income residents and minorities, there is a greater chance of low food security.

After I got back I was doing some research and found a couple articles on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) website.

Dynamics of Poverty and Food Sufficiency, D Ribar & K. Hamrick

This article has an interesting study linking the dynamics of poverty and food sufficiency to that of income and race. An experiment is completed using a survey to gain knowledge about a group of people every 4 months on 9 different locations.The findings yet again confirm how EJ is a problem we must face.

Some interesting findings from this study:

• The USDA currently administers 15 domestic food assistance programs that work individually and in concert to provide a nutrition safety net for children and low-income adults.
• The programs (USDA) spent over $37.9 billion on the domestic food assistance program.
• While only 3.8 percent of people (1 of 26) were in households classified as food insecure with hunger, poverty and food insufficiency's were positively related.
• People who lived in families with incomes below the poverty line were several times more likely to face food insufficiency than those in families with higher incomes.
• Women were more likely to live in poor families and food-insufficient households than men.
• Women with higher poverty rates were more likely to become food insufficient than to stop becoming food insufficient
• Children were more likely to live in poor families of food-insufficient households than adults and less likely to exit from either of these conditions.
• Poverty rates and food insufficiency rates for Blacks and African Americans and Hispanics were roughly three times higher than for Whites. B
• lack and Hispanics had very high rates of entry for poverty and food insufficiency and low rates of exits.
• Non citizens had poverty and food insufficiency rates that were comparable to those of Blacks and Hispanics.
• Poverty and food insufficiency declined with increased education.
• Poverty is 2-3 times worse food insufficiency than those who completed high school, and 6-10 times than those completing college.

As it shows in this study, low-income families and minorities are most likely to enter into food insufficiency and less likely to leave the situation.



Other interesting related articles on the relationship of  Food Security and income/poverty level from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) can be found by clicking the links below.

Characteristics of Low-Income Houses with Very Low Food Security, by M. Nord

Food Insecurity in High income Households, by M. Nord & C. Brent

-Marshelle Slayton

Food Deserts in America

-MAU

Seattle, a forerunner

So you are becoming aware of the problem but what is the solution? How can we be apart of helping areas where there are food deserts or help solve the global problem of food insecurity? A simple answer is start gardening, join a community garden, become a localivore, etc. Seattle, Washington is an excellent example of a city that encourages this type of action. For instance, there is a place called Marra Farm who is "a model urban community farm engaging people in sustainable agriculture and education while enhancing local food security. Tucked into the South Park neighborhood of Seattle, it has 4 acres of historic preserved farmland." South Park is a neighborhood full of poverty, pollution, and an area void of a supermarket and farmer's markets. Marra Farm seeks to change this neighborhood by providing not only fresh produce but also an avenue that children can get involved and be educated on issues like food security, pollution, and nutrition. They work with many different organizations and coalitions such a Lettuce Link, Seattle Youth Garden Works, Mien Community garden, local elementary schools and food banks, etc. 

Help out Marra Farm by volunteering or donating: https://support.solid-ground.org/LettuceLink

-MAU

Food Justice for All: Food Justice in the City

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/food-for-everyone/growing-power-in-an-urban-food-desert

I feel very fortunate to have a home that is within close proximity to a grocery store that provides the option of purchasing fruits and vegetables. This, however, is not the case for many Americans who live in urban areas of a lower socio-economic status. This phenomena is referred to as a food desert. As a consequence, many Americans do not have access to healthy, and diverse food options. It is not lawful to seclude individuals of basic, human, necessities. So why is this type of environmental racism still occurring? Who is to blame? And how can we make a change for the better?

~ Meron A.

Jelly Sandwiches...Where's the Peanut Butter?

Have any of you realized how much you are paying for peanut butter these days? A ridiculous amount! I bought a container of cheap JIF the other day costing me about eight dollars! Why? What is causing this outrageous spike?
We have recently had the worst peanut harvest in decades! "Analysts attribute this drop to the intense heat and drought that hit the southern U.S. this year, as well as to high prices for other crops that led farmers to focus their efforts elsewhere," says CNNMoney.com

Americans spend about $800 million on peanut butter and consume an average of six pounds of peanut products each year, according to The National Peanut Board, a farmer-funded research group.

Can anyone say--global warming? Can anyone say--food insecurity?

But the question that comes to my mind is: If I am struggling to pay for this household staple as a middle class American, what about other people? What about families and communities who barely make it from paycheck to paycheck that can only send their kids with cheap PB&J sandwiches for lunch? What about about those who live in low income housing? 

-MAU

Food Insecurity: How? What now?

-MAU

What the UNFCCC has revealed in Durban, South Africa

http://www.news.wisc.edu/20224



When the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change met in Durban, South Africa this past December, it was to address the multiple aspects of global warming and its effects. This article points out the importance of researching sustainable farming practices and the need for new policy-making. The lack of focus previously placed on food security in a changing climate seems to be a reflection of those in power. While past UNFCCCs have discussed greenhouse emissions as the main problem we face today, the food shortages climate change has caused have been conspicuously absent in discourse. As most populations affected by food shortages are poorer and agriculturally based, the convention in Durban shows a movement, if small, towards justice for those most directly affected by climate change.