Community gardens, overcoming food-deserts together.

More about Community gardens, overcoming food-deserts together.

Food deserts are geo­graph­ic areas where res­i­dents have few to no con­ve­nient options for secur­ing afford­able and healthy foods, espe­cial­ly fresh fruits and veg­eta­bles. Dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly found in high-pover­ty areas, food deserts cre­ate extra, every­day hur­dles that can make it hard­er for kids, fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties to grow healthy and strong. They are most commonly found in black and brown communities and low-income areas (where many people don’t have cars). Studies have found that wealthy districts have three times as many supermarkets as poor ones do. Community gardens in urban and rural areas help generate fresh fruits and vegetables for local residents by combining the knowledge, experience, and efforts of all members of the community. Shared work and neighborhood distribution efforts create shared prosperity for the whole.

Growers such as Rise & Root Farm in the Hudson Valley, "run cooperatively by four owners who are women, intergenerational, multi-racial, and LGBTQ", work with communities to provide gardening information, on site workshops, and inexpensive seedlings for starting and maintaining urban community gardens in NYC.

Another effort to ameliorate food deserts are local projects such as farmer's market food trucks that can deliver fresh produce to areas that have no brick-and-mortar groceries. A weekly farmers market stand set up at a local bus stop can help commuters access fresh produce from local growers on their way to and from work. Efforts like these can be carried out by local organizations similar to The Food For Thought Foundation, Inc., which was founded in 2020 in Washington D.C. This is a nonprofit that specializes in redistributing fruits and vegetables from full-service grocery stores to neighborhoods in food deserts.