Atlanta, A Food Desert?
Source: Kali Starks (2017)
The Museum of Design Atlanta closed the “Food by Design: Sustaining the Future” exhibit on May 21. Food by Design: Sustaining the Future was an exhibition sponsored by Invest Atlanta, Northside Hospital, Fulton County, and most importantly, the city of Atlanta. The exhibition challenged patrons to contemplate how the food system needs to be redesigned to make it more healthful, sustainable, and efficient for urban agriculture. The exhibition showcased food accessibility, the challenges of “food desert” and food security solutions. Many of the solutions in the exhibition were for the city of Atlanta.
“There is a lot of information and resources out, but people don’t know where to find it,” said Blair Banks, the education coordinator at MODA.
Source: Kali Starks (2017)
According to a 2015 article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, nearly 2 million Georgians live in food desert areas and there are approximately 35 food deserts within the city of Atlanta. According to the American Nutrition Association, a food desert is a geographical area that has little access to fresh produce due to the lack of grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and healthy food providers.
The city of Atlanta has many food security solutions and plans to resolve its food desert issue. In 2014, the Atlanta City Council passed a zoning ordinance that allows Atlantans to legally grown their own food and sell their produce to the community. The city of Atlanta hired its first urban agriculture director, Mario Cambardella, in 2015. Cambardella will work with the Mayor’s Office of Resilience to create policies that promote urban agriculture in the Atlanta metro area. Also, the Mayor’s Office of Resilience announced the creation of its first community food forest on Browns Mill Road in southeast Atlanta. The food forest is a public park that where a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and nuts grow and available for public consumption.
According to Grace Staples’s special report, Atlanta’s Food Deserts series, there are more than 300 active community gardens within the Atlanta metro area. A major community garden, featured in the exhibition, is the West End Community Urban Garden and Nursery. The West End Community Urban Garden and Nursery has been a staple in the Historic West End neighborhood since 2004. Founder, Haylene Green, developed the garden to provide a place for the the community to learn how to grow fruits and vegetables naturally and services like cooking classes and Eat and Learn events held in the garden.
Another food security solution in the city of Atlanta is Fresh MARTA Market, which are farm stands located at four public transportation stations: West End, Five Points, College Park, and H.E. Holmes. Community Farmers Markets developed the concept to help farmers sell more produce and give local communities convenient access to fresh produce.
“The idea of the MARTA markets is awesome because the demographic in those areas do not have much access to stuff [seasonal fruits and vegetables] and most people on the west side use public transportation,” said Alisha Wilson, a Dekalb County resident.
The Fulton Fresh Mobile Market is a food truck that travels to low-income neighborhoods and retirement communities with fresh produce at no cost. The program began in 2011 in efforts to address the health disparities in Fulton County and give residents an option to choose healthy foods.
Visit USDA’s Food Access Research Atlas to see whether your neighborhood is in a food desert area as well as the additional local and national sources below.
West End Community Urban Garden
Originally Posted on August 15, 2017
