from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
|
|
JAFSCD is the world’s only community-supported journal. JAFSCD content is open access (free) thanks to the generous support of our shareholders: the JAFSCD Shareholder Consortium, Library Shareholders, a growing number of Individual Shareholders, and our six JAFSCD Partners: |
|
|
JAFSCD peer-reviewed article by Dorceta E. Taylor (Yale U), Ashley Bell (Yale U), Abdeali Saherwala (Skyview Ventures), Storm Lewis (Storm Indigo L. Consulting LLC), Greg Rybarczyk (U of Michigan-Flint), and Richard Wetzel (Granger Waste Services)
Most studies on food access focus on large cities, leaving us with little knowledge of food access in small cities. This paper focuses on Saginaw, a small, racially segregated Michigan city. For this study, the researchers examined the following questions: (1) How has the distribution of Saginaw’s food outlets changed between 2013 and 2023? (2) Does Saginaw fit the definition of a food desert in 2013 or 2023? (3) Does Saginaw fit the definition of a food swamp in 2013 or 2023? (4) Has supermarket redlining occurred in Saginaw in 2013 or 2023? (5) How is population decline related to food outlet distribution? (6) How do food store closures impact food store distribution?
KEY FINDINGS - Food insecurity and lack of access to food are common problems U.S. cities, and particularly in communities with large numbers of Black residents.
-
Restaurants dominated the food landscape in both 2013 and 2023. While many food access studies focus on supermarkets and large grocery stores, these venues composed only 4.9% of the food outlets in 2013 and 3.8% in 2023.
-
Although portions of Saginaw had limited access to supermarkets and large grocery stores, describing the whole city as a food desert is inaccurate, nor did the findings support the food swamp or supermarket redlining theses.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY AND RESEARCH
This study highlights the need to examine the impacts of race and income on food store access in more nuanced ways, such as examining the types of food sold in a broader range of food stores. The USDA has abandoned its use of terms like food desert and now relies on “low access” to describe the ease or difficulty of acquiring food in a community. This study suggests that the USDA should further refine the definition of "low access" to more accurately describe food landscapes. When food access is focused on a few components of the food environment (supermarkets, large grocery stores, wholesale clubs or super centers, and convenience stores), crucial indicators are overlooked and not analyzed or incorporated into assessments.
SHARE ON YOUR SOCIALS
What lies at the intersection of redlining and food deserts? Get insights from a new JAFSCD article focused on a small, segregated city in Michigan, USA. It's important to include a broad range of food sources to assess food access. Read the @JAFSCD article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.142.014
|
|
|
Image above: Figure B4b from the article shares a map with the location of small grocery and convenience stores in Saginaw in 2023. |
|
|
JAFSCD peer-reviewed article by Stephen Onakuse (U College Cork), Lilian Treasure (U of Greenwich), Okbasilassie Msghina, and Kahsay Negash (both at the Ministry of Agriculture, Eritrea)
As summarized by one of the anonymous JAFSCD reviewers: “The paper provides the potential for measuring dimensions of empowerment for women and men heading households of agricultural enterprises, and working in communities where they may provide leadership and community support, as well. The paper also attempts to tie these to agricultural productivity in order to better understand means of and approaches to supporting these households and their contributions to the local and regional food systems and community livelihoods.”
KEY FINDINGS -
The educational level of the household head was significant but negatively related to the production indicator, meaning that additional years of education were associated with reduced household production adequacy in dairy farming.
-
This implies that the more farmers are involved in milk processing, the less they participate in decisions about the input market, assets or land acquired or transferred, and income and expenditure.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY AND RESEARCH
Among male and female household heads, empowerment resulted in increases in productivity of 11.50% and18.49%,respectively, and reduced poverty by 10.57% and 9.91%, respectively. This suggests that gains in productivity reduced poverty more among female dairy farmers than among male dairy farmers. The findings from this study call for policy reform to improve women’s access to formal and informal education and training, not only in dairy production for increased productivity but also for general capacity-building among women.
SHARE ON YOUR SOCIALS
Empowerment initiatives to enhance the productivity of smallholder dairy farms and reduce poverty in Eritrea are more important that ever. In a new JAFSCD article, the researchers found a positive effect of empowerment, productivity gains, and poverty alleviation in households, with a notably higher impact observed in those headed by females. Read the @JAFSCD article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.142.012
|
|
|
Image above: Figure 1 from the article displays a map of the study area in Eritrea. |
|
|
NEWS FROM JAFSCD SHAREHOLDERS | |
|
JAFSCD SHAREHOLDER CAREER OPPORTUNITIES |
|
|
Assistant/Associate Professor of Wildfire Management
(Position #0083067) in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR). Full-time, tenure-track position based in Honolulu with an 11-month appointment. Details here. |
| County Administrator for Kaua‘i
(Position #0089216) in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR). Full-time, permanent position located in Kapa‘a, with a salary range of $129,732 to $233,508, depending on qualifications. Details here. |
| Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs
(Position #0089047) at UH at M?noa's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR). Full-time leadership role focused on enhancing academic programs and student experiences. Details here. |
|
|
This email is sent to you as a notification of the newest JAFSCD articles and other occasional JAFSCD news. |
|
JAFSCD is an open access, community-supported journal! Your library, program, or organization can become a shareholder to help keep JAFSCD's content available to all, regardless of their resources. We welcome anyone to become an individual shareholder; donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
|
|
|
|
