Published by the Review of Agricultural Economics.
Although the challenges facing rural retailers have been attributed to competition and decreasing population, this paper defines the problem from rural consumers' perspective. It argues that consumers select shopping location on its shopping value, determined by its attractiveness and accessibility. The results indicate that locations closest to the consumer's residence offer the highest shopping value for groceries and other low-order goods. They also show that increasing gasoline prices favor local retailers. Rural retailers may use these results to implement differentiating strategies that increase their attractiveness, accessibility, and consequently their competitiveness.
Published by the Colorado Health Foundation.
Research demonstrates that rural residents living without sufficient healthy food access, such as those in Colorado's rural communities, actually pay more for food due to lack of competitive pricing from larger markets and transportation costs to reach the stores. Residents of areas with inadequate access to healthy foods are forced to shop in convenience stores and gas stations that generally do not offer healthy, fresh foods.
Published by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food was created to help re-connect American families to American family farmers, as a step towards building vibrant local and regional food systems. The initiative, chaired by Deputy Secretary Merrigan, is the focus of a task force with representatives from agencies across USDA who will help better align the Department's efforts to build stronger local and regional food systems.
Published in the Oxford University Research Archive (ORA).
Alternative agriculture and counter-cuisine movements have grown to a strong cultural current in Western European and North American societies. In recent years, these movements have begun to converge and coalesce around the concept of localizing agri-food relations and commodity chains as a way of redressing the deleterious environmental, social, and economic consequences of what are seen as dominant globalized food relations.
Published in Applied Geopgraphy
The food desert metaphor has been widely used by academics and politicians alike. While there is general agreement on what a food desert is in a relatively vague sense, strategies to identify food deserts, especially in a rural setting, using a systematic method remain undefined. The purpose of this paper is to contribute towards the development of a method for rural food desert identification strategies using the location of food retailers and residential units.
Published in Rural Sociological Society
Rural areas risk becoming "food deserts" as young families move away and market pressures continue to squeeze small grocers and retailers. Health can be compromised by lack of food access. Many do not consume adequate amounts of fresh fruits or vegetables, and they often lack adequate dairy and protein in their diet.
Published in Rural Development Perspectives
Poor households in rural areas rely more on smaller grocery stores and supermarkets than do metro area households, and they may face higher average food prices and reduced access to food as a result.
Published in Rural Sociological Society
Rural regions include places where food sources are not evenly distributed, leading to areas of concentration and food deserts-places where few or no grocery stores exist. Residents living in poor rural counties with few grocery stores and perceptions of high civic structure are significantly less likely to be food insecure.
Published by Troy Blanchard, Mississippi State University and Thomas Lyson, Cornell University
The placement of 'supercenter' retail grocery stores, like Wal-Mart, have 'distanced' disadvantaged rural populations from stores that sell low cost groceries. Access to affordable sources of food in many nonmetropolitan counties requires access to transportation and may require lengthy commutes. Disadvantaged residents, such as the poor, the disabled, and the very old and very young may not be able to take advantage of the low prices offered in supermarkets and supercenters.
Published in Journal of Planning Education and Research
This research found an absence of supermarkets in neighborhoods of color when compared to white neighborhoods. Nonetheless, this study reveals an extensive network of small grocery stores in neighborhoods of color. Rather than seeking to build supermarkets, supporting small, high-quality grocery stores may be a more efficient strategy for ensuring access to healthful foods in minority neighborhoods.
Published in Journal for the Study of Food and Safety
This study examines differences among rural food desert residents and their access to grocery store patterns.
Published in Journal of the Community Development Society
This study suggests several possible actions for community development practitioners involved in efforts to improve and sustain rural retail business communities.
Published in the Economic Development Review
This article outlines the results of a 1993 study that examined the impacts of Wal-Mart stores and other mass merchandisers in Iowa.
Published in Great Plains Research
This study examines one strategy used by local residents of four local villages in Jefferson County, Kansas, to respond to recent socioeconomic changes. Termed the "shop-locally" discourse, this strategy is an exercise in persuading citizens to patronize local businesses, in particular retail businesses, instead of driving to the cities to spend money.