Food Desert or Oasis

Triangle Area NC Food Market Analysis

wenhao zheng

01 / 05

A food desert is an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food, in contrast with an area with higher access to supermarkets or vegetable shops with fresh foods, which is called a food oasis. The designation considers the type and quality of food available to the population, in addition to the accessibility of the food through the size and proximity of the food stores.

In 2010, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that 23.5 million Americans live in "food deserts", meaning that they live more than one mile from a supermarket in urban or suburban areas, and more than 10 miles from a supermarket in rural areas

This area is Raleigh-Durham and Cary, some people call here triangle. In recent years, There has been a lot of investment in the area, especially from software companies that have set up branches in the area, and even amazon is planning to set up a hub in the southwest.

This a few food supermarket in Raleigh and Cary junction, and near the NCSU, so there are a lot of food oasis area, because the main gathered here for students and the middle class population, they will spend more money for their own nutrition, because they have such income, the university is also very good, especially the engineering students, they also have a good family, so they would be willing to pay for their own health more.

The income higher than others at the bottom left and the income at the top are Cary and north Raleigh, where the residents are mainly college professors and the middle class. There are even few McDonald's nearby. Although the income of these food supermarket drama series is not high, the children of high intellectuals study in NCSU, so they have a certain amount of spending ability.

So we see that although the Cary and Raleigh junctions are not very high in terms of income, they do not have much unemployment. Merchants in this area, especially food supermarkets, have maintained a good benign development. Here is a theoretical food oasis area. In contrast, East Raleigh has a lot of unemployment because of the impact of Cary's new company on the Raleigh market in recent years, resulting in a large number of people moving to Cary. There may be some food desert problems there.

Other criteria include affordability and income level. According to the USDA, researchers should "consider prices of foods faced by individuals and areas" and how "prices affect the shopping and consumption behaviors of consumers." One study maintains that estimates of how many people live in food deserts must include the cost of food in supermarkets that can be reached in relation to their income.

For instance, in 2013, Whole Foods opened a store in Detroit, where one third of the population lives below the poverty line. Whole Foods is known for their pricey healthy and organic foods. In order to attract the low income residents, the Detroit store offered lower prices compared to other Whole Foods stores. If Whole Foods had not lowered the prices, residents would not be willing to shop there and Detroit would still be considered a food desert.