The rise of food banks and the challenge of matching food assistance with potential need: towards a spatially specific, rapid assessment approach

Bacon, Christopher M.; Baker, Gregory A.

doi:10.1007/s10460-017-9783-y

Cited by 43 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(47 reference statements)

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“…Beyond these issues of disproportionate representation lies a deeper cultural question about whose values, knowledge and experiences are being represented in UA and in food access initiatives more generally. There is a growing call to understand how food insecure populations acquire food and how they define ‘good food’—both their food preferences and broader aspirations for the food system (Alkon et al ., 2013; Bacon and Baker, 2017).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing ‘good food’: urban gardens, culturally acceptable produce and food security

Diekmann

Gray

Baker

2018

Renew. Agric. Food Syst.

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With food security increasingly seen as an urban concern, urban agriculture (UA) has emerged as one strategy for improving access to healthy, affordable food within cities in the Global North. This research evaluates the contributions of three types of urban gardens in Santa Clara County, California, to food security. Survey, interview and harvest data were collected from home gardeners, community gardeners and gardeners participating in community food security (CFS) programs, which provide low-income families with the materials and training to grow their own vegetables. To assess food security we use a multi-dimensional framework that encompasses food availability, accessibility, nutritional adequacy and cultural acceptability as well as agency within the food system. Over the summer of 2015, median garden production ranged from 26 kg for participants in CFS programs to 56 kg for home gardeners. All garden types produced enough produce for at least one adult to consume the number of cups of vegetables recommended by federal nutritional guidelines. Gardening also increased some low-income gardeners’ access to healthy food, allowing them to have the diet they wanted—one high in organically grown vegetables—but could not otherwise afford to purchase. Interviews showed that gardeners do not think of cultural acceptability strictly in terms of the presence of certain types of cultural crops; they also articulated a broader set of values concerning the environmental and social conditions of food production. At all income levels, gardeners frequently described a set of food values related to knowledge, control, trust, freshness, flavor, organic production methods and sharing, which they were able to enact through gardening. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the nutritional contributions that urban gardens make but also highlight the importance that low-income gardeners place on having food that aligns with their cultural and ethical values and being able to exercise greater autonomy in making food choices. In conclusion, we suggest that more robust, holistic assessments of UA's contributions to food security will include the subjective aspects of food as well as quantitative measures related to food production.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growing ‘good food’: urban gardens, culturally acceptable produce and food security

Diekmann

Gray

Baker

2018

Renew. Agric. Food Syst.

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“…Community-based food assistance programmes were designed as temporary measures to relieve short-term economic hardship (12,13) . However, as income and SNAP benefits are often insufficient in meeting household food needs, food pantries and meal centres have become longterm adaptive strategies used by many vulnerable populations in the USA (14) . These programmes vary widely in their scope of service (e.g.…”

Section: Community Food Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food security and alternative food acquisition among US low-income households: results from the National Food Acquisition and Purchasing Survey (FoodAPS)

Crespo-Bellido

Grutzmacher

Smit

2020

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: To determine the characteristics of US low-income households that use alternative food acquisition strategies and to examine the association between food security and alternative food acquisition. Design: Cross-sectional analysis. The ten-item Adult Food Security Survey Module was used to determine food security status. Self-reported data were used to determine food acquisition from community food sources, social networks and household food production. Setting: The National Food Acquisition and Purchasing Survey (FoodAPS), 2012. Participants: The sample consisted of 2534 low-income households (≤185 % of the federal poverty line) in the USA. Results: Households using alternative food acquisition strategies were more likely to have a primary respondent who was non-Hispanic White, born in the USA, and female, and more likely to live in a rural area, have higher income and own a home than households not using alternative acquisition strategies. Very low food security was positively associated with the use of community food sources (aOR = 2·26 (95 % CI 1·15, 4·46)). There was no association between food security and food acquisition from social networks or household food production. Conclusions: Use of alternative food acquisition strategies varied by specific demographic characteristics among low-income households, suggesting opportunities for outreach and promotion of alternative acquisition strategies in specific subpopulations in the USA. Future research should examine whether quantity and quality of food received from these sources are associated with food security.

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“…Effective responses to FNI must address the overlapping challenges posed by the social determinants of health (USDA 2019 ; Healthy People 2020 ). According to Bacon and Baker ( 2017 ), food banks served an estimated of 46 million people in the U.S in 2015. Although the vast majority of food and nutrition insecure people live in the developing world, the study further shows that increasing number of individuals continue to rely on private food assistance in the US, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and other high-income countries.…”

Section: The Nexus Picturementioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Nutrition, Health, Climate Change, Deforestation, and Land Access Nexus

Odularu

Deen-Swarray

Adekunle

2020

Nutrition, Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change in Africa

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Agriculture remains the most dominant socioeconomic sector of the African economy, accounting for over 60% of total job opportunities, in the face of low productivity, minimal value addition capacities, and poor quality among others such that its global agricultural value-added hovers around 2%. This is evident in its high level of food and nutritional insecurity across all agroecological zones in which millions of Africans still live on less than $US2 per day. For most low-income, unemployed and vulnerable farming communities in rural and peri-urban geographies, access to food, especially nutrient dense perishable foods may be undermined. More specifically, approximately 419 million additional people could fall into extreme poverty in 2020, particularly in SSA and South Asia (World Bank 2020). Thus, the study provides compelling evidences to the African Union Commission, its agencies, as well as national governments on targeted support to selected strategic crops in the relevant geographical locations on the continent. In other words, documenting and realizing the impact pathways toward nutritional security and sustainable agri-food outcomes are dynamic, and not linearly associated.

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The rise of food banks and the challenge of matching food assistance with potential need: towards a spatially specific, rapid assessment approach

Abstract: insecurity rates, is easier to calculate, and draws attention to the need to address poverty as a root cause of hunger.

Cited by 43 publications

References 49 publications

Growing ‘good food’: urban gardens, culturally acceptable produce and food security

Growing ‘good food’: urban gardens, culturally acceptable produce and food security

Food security and alternative food acquisition among US low-income households: results from the National Food Acquisition and Purchasing Survey (FoodAPS)

Understanding the Nutrition, Health, Climate Change, Deforestation, and Land Access Nexus

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