Food Deserts and Food Insecurity in Syracuse, NY
A geographic comparison of food accessibility, income variety, racial distribution, and public transportation across Syracuse
Background
What are food deserts?
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, food deserts are defined as “geographic areas where residents’ access to affordable, healthy food options (especially fresh fruits and vegetables) is restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance.” In addition to this broader definition, there are specific requirements that a region or area must meet in order to be considered a food desert or food insecure. These parameters vary across residential and land-use areas, but for highly populated, urban areas like Syracuse, a food desert is defined as a residential area or neighborhood that is located more than one mile from a full service grocery store- a store that provides access to fresh produce, deli items, and other health foods- and that has a median household income that sits below the poverty line. According to the New York State Department of Human Health and Services, the poverty line for a household of three is $21,960 for residents of New York state in 2021. Furthermore, the USDA also provides a loose definition for food insecure areas. These are areas with a more limited access to healthy foods, areas in which food is hard to acquire without access to a personal vehicle, or areas that are otherwise on the brink of being considered food deserts but that are still within a one mile radius of a grocery store. Using the same geographic variables as used for food deserts, in urban areas, an area of possible food insecurity can be defined as an area with a median income below the poverty line and a location that is between 1/2 and one mile from a full-service grocery store. Areas of possible food insecurity will be represented in the following maps, but because the definition of food insecurity is slightly more inconsistent, the main geographic analysis within the project will focus on food deserts as defined by the USDA.
Why are food deserts and areas of food insecurity a problem?
Food deserts are a huge topic of concern for communities and governing bodies in Syracuse and beyond, especially as the impact of urbanization, population growth, and climate change continue to negatively impact food accessibility worldwide.
Food deserts are dangerous for a number of reasons. First, food deserts and areas of food insecurity are often lacking in grocery stores and markets that provide nutritious, fresh, and vitamin-filled foods like fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, and whole grains. Instead, food deserts typically have a higher concentration of what are sometimes referred to as "gas-station foods"- the pre-packaged, usually unhealthy, and highly processed foods that are less expensive and last longer than fresh foods. As a result, food deserts often have increased instances of obesity, diabetes, heart problems, and other weight-related conditions. The increase in malnourishment and malnutrition caused by a lack of access to sufficient quantities of nutritious foods can also have numerous long and short-term health effects. This is particularly true for children, who are still in their critical periods of growth and development. A diet of primarily processed foods has also been linked to a greater likelihood of cancer later in life.
Furthermore, because of income segregation in the United States and across the world, communities of color are often disproportionately affected by food deserts. Single mothers, individuals with a disability, and immigrant and refugee communities are also highly affected. This leads to an increase in health problems for these groups, who also often find more difficulty in accessing medical treatment and medical insurance.
Why Syracuse?
Syracuse is highly urbanized, has a low overall median income value in comparison to other cities of similar size (only $38, 276 for the average household in 2019, according to the United States Census Bureau), and it is very racially segregated. Syracuse also has large immigrant and refugee communities, and the city's center is often catered to the students of Syracuse University, not the city's residents. This means that Syracuse's entrepreneurs often open specialty restaurants, cafes, and health-food stores that are not consistent with the needs or disposable incomes of Syracuse's permanent residents. This makes Syracuse extremely vulnerable to food insecurity and food deserts. The following maps show a layout of Syracuse's major roads and neighborhoods, as well as income distribution and racially concentrated areas within the city. As shown, Syracuse's areas of below-poverty income and high racial concentration are located primarily within the city's center.
What are the goals of this project?
At its completion, this project will seek to assess the relationship between income variability and access to nutritious food sources within Syracuse. More specifically, the following maps will work to create a visual understanding of the ways in which the ability of Syracuse's residents to easily acquire foods from a variety of sources is highly dependent on the demographic zones in which they live. Lastly, through this project, I hope to be able to draw conclusions about which regions of Syracuse may be considered food insecure or food deserts. The final maps will also show the ways in which food pantries and the Syracuse Centro bus lines service these areas.
Overview of GIS Methods Used:
- Select by Location/ Select by Attribute
- Clip
- Buffer
- Merge
- Eraser
- Create New Feature Class
- Symbolization
Overview of Data Sources Used :
Distribution of Food Stores in Syracuse
According to the full definition of a food desert as provided by the USDA, food deserts and areas of food insecurity are defined primarily by their proximity to "full-service grocery stores." There are 11 such stores within Syracuse's boundaries. However, Syracuse is also home to a variety of cultural markets and farmer's markets that serve the community in equally important ways. As such, for the purposes of this project, these food stores will be considered as well.
The following maps, from left to right, overlay the established income map with the locations of Syracuse's major supermarkets, cultural markets, farmer's markets, and total food stores. Additionally, these maps suggest that while Syracuse’s supermarkets expand out fairly evenly from the city center and are located in all income areas, there is a noticeable lack of supermarkets directly in the center of the city and in the middle of racially concentrated areas. Conversely, Syracuse’s cultural markets are clustered in racially concentrated areas in the northern center of Syracuse- with a few outliers- and Syracuse’s farmers markets seem to create a well-defined vertical pattern down the center of the city. When food stores are assessed in their totality, it is clear that there is a gap in food accessibility in the below-poverty and racially concentrated areas directly to the south and southeast of Syracuse’s city center.
Food Store Buffers
In urban areas, the USDA defines food deserts as below poverty-level areas that are located at least one mile from a full-service grocery store. Using the same variables, areas of possible food insecurity can be loosely defined as similar areas that are located between 1/2 and one mile from a full-service grocery store. These areas are designated by the following maps as the regions outside of the blue buffers. In addition, due to the growing importance and impact of the cultural and farmer's markets in Syracuse, the second map shows the buffer zones for all food stores. This provides a visual representation of just how integral Syracuse's cultural market scene is in decreasing areas of food insecurity.
Food Deserts and Areas of Insecurity
This map depicts areas of food insecurity as defined by Syracuse's below poverty-level neighborhoods and the regions outside of Syracuse's food store buffers. For the purposes of this project, food insecurity will be broken down into four levels:
Poverty-level areas greater than one mile from all food stores (including markets) fit the USDA definition of a food desert, and are the most food insecure. These areas are shown in dark red.
Poverty-level areas greater than one mile from a full-service grocery store fit the USDA definition of a food desert but are within one mile of a market. These areas are shown in light red.
Poverty-level areas between one and 1/2 mile from all food stores and from singly full-service grocery stores are considered to be areas of possible food insecurity, and are shown in orange and yellow, respectively.
The Relationship Between Food, Income, Race, and Public Resources
As shown in the following maps and in the maps above, there is a large and varying amount of food insecurity in Syracuse. This insecurity, by definition, overlaps with Syracuse's areas of poverty and, in many cases, also overlaps with Syracuse's neighborhoods of color. Food insecurity within Syracuse is also concentrated in the center and southeastern most regions of the city.
In addition to areas of insecurity, the following maps also show the placement and allocation of Syracuse's Centro bus lines- represented by the blue lines- and Syracuse's food pantries- represented by the purple points. These two resources are integral in mitigating the effects of food insecurity. Further, while it would seem that Syracuse's Centro line adequately services Syracuse's at-risk areas, the placement of Syracuse's food pantries does not seem to line up with the locations of Syracuse's areas of food insecurity. Although the pantries are, in almost all cases, directly serviced by the Centro line, they tend to lay outside of the most food insecure areas (food deserts) and leave large, unserviced gaps in low-income areas in the southeast regions of the city.
*For the maps below, all areas highlighted in yellow, orange, and red can be assumed to be areas with a median income below the New York state poverty level.
The maps below provide a closer look at the center and southern areas of Syracuse. The map to the left is a copy of the map above, and the map to the right overlays food store, food desert, and demographic data with a new factor, population density. From this, it can be assumed that there is no direct correlation between population density and food insecurity within Syracuse.
Conclusions: An Overview
- Syracuse has moderate levels of food insecurity. Food insecurity is concentrated in the center and southeastern-most regions of the city.
- Syracuse's cultural and farmer's markets play a large role in minimizing food insecurity, and they significantly decrease the areas that would be considered to be food deserts or food insecure.
- Syracuse's areas of food insecurity commonly overlap with neighborhoods of color in the city's center.
- Syracuse's Centro bus lines are optimally located for increasing food accessibility, but its food pantries have gaps in accessibility.
- Syracuse would benefit from opening another full-service grocery store in the city's center
Disclaimer
Syracuse's median income data may be skewed by the existence of Syracuse University. The census marks areas of university housing as below poverty-level areas. However, the data for residential housing surrounding the university is accurate.
