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