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Identifying barriers to sustainable food production by low resource producers and purchase by low income consumers in Washington and Beaufort Counties, North Carolina
Abstract
Serving the interests of our client, Resourceful Communities of the Conservation Fund,
our project investigates ways to better connect low-resource producers and low-income
consumers of fresh produce in 31 low-income counties in NE North Carolina. To better
characterize barriers rural producers and consumers face to produce and access healthy
food, we conducted three separate analyses. A general linear model statistical analysis
based on the USDA Food Environment Atlas data was used to identify significant demographic
and socioeconomic variables that affect food access at the macro-level. For a qualitative
analysis, surveys and interviews were used to define barriers producers and consumers
face on the intra-county scale. Using Geographic Information Systems, a spatial analysis
was developed to understand spatial patterns of food deserts and access barriers.
The qualitative and spatial analyses were focused on two low-income counties: Beaufort
County and Washington County, NC Community stakeholders, local food producers, consumers,
and grocery retailers were interviewed. The statistical analysis focused both on
31 target North Carolina counties and on the entire Eastern Coastal plain. Two general
linear models revealed that persistent poverty counties and counties experiencing
population loss were more likely to experience little or no access to grocery stores.
Race was also a factor, particularly within North Carolina where minorities are more
vulnerable to food insecurity. Both Washington and Beaufort Counties exhibit a high
level of economic and demographic stratification. Two-thirds of consumers from the
survey had problems stretching their food budget, and identified a weekly food box
at low or no-cost as the best intervention. Retail grocery stores already can and
do buy local food. However, retailers buy locally according to the season and price.
Major barriers to connecting low-resource producers and low-income consumers were
identified as the decrease in the number of small farms, increasing bureaucracy, high
cost of entry, and historical divisions between ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Using
the geographic and socio-economic barriers, the spatial analysis identified three
food deserts, in SE Beaufort County, NE Beaufort County, and SW Washington County
and the main drivers for each.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8570Citation
Hill, Kim; & Zhang, Harry (2014). Identifying barriers to sustainable food production by low resource producers and
purchase by low income consumers in Washington and Beaufort Counties, North Carolina.
Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8570.Collections
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