Indoor Farms Could Satiate Hunger in Massachusetts Food Deserts
Imagine for a moment that you’re a single mother with a full-time job, providing for three young children. Making ends meet is difficult, and you need cheap products in order to pay your rent and utilities. Now imagine sitting around the table for dinner: you’ve kicked off your heels, the house is a mess, and your kids are hungry. What’s for dinner?
McDonald’s.
And no, not because you didn’t have time to cook or because you were exhausted from working an eight hour shift. Not because the kids were good this week and you promised them Happy Meals.
Your children are eating french fries and cheese burgers for dinner every night because those items are on the dollar menu, McDonald’s is only a block away, and there isn’t a grocery store for miles.
And in the state of Massachusetts, this is, unfortunately, a common occurrence for low-income residents.
Food Deserts
According to research conducted by the Food Trust, 2.8 million people residing in low income areas in Massachusetts lack access to grocery stores with affordable, healthy food. That’s 40 percent of Massachusetts’ entire population.
But why?
Massachusetts is littered with food deserts, or areas in which access to affordable and healthy food is limited. Grocery stores are located miles away, and for those in the city without access to transportation, walking miles to the grocery store is out of the question–and so is taking the bus (or multiple buses).
For instance, Norma, a Roxbury resident, takes two buses (50 minutes both ways) to get to a grocery store. Imagine sitting on the bus for nearly an hour with a lap of groceries, some of which need to be refrigerated. And there’s only so much you can carry without a car, which means more frequent trips.
Not only are food deserts inconvenient, but they are also dangerous. Studies show that low-income areas in which there is little access to grocery stores possess high rates of obesity and chronic, diet-related diseases. And according to new research, nearly half of the children in Lawrence, Massachusetts schools are overweight or obese. So are two-thirds of the adults in the city.
So what can be done? You might think that introducing more grocery stores is the solution, but it’s not quite so simple. A lot of money is needed to introduce grocery stores to an entire state.
Tried and True Solutions
In 2014, the Legislature established the Massachusetts Food Trust Program, designed to improve access to affordable and nutritious food and reduce the number of Massachusetts food deserts. Initially, the state did not provide enough money for the program to gain momentum, so it wasn’t until 2016 that the program truly began. The programs have worked in both Pennsylvania and Ohio, so officials are optimistic that Massachusetts will see results as well.
Other programs have also sprouted in the area, such as Lowell’s “veggie vans,” which deliver fresh produce to the elderly. Recently, the mayor’s Health Task Force in Lawrence has targeted bodegas, or corner stores that sell mostly canned and packaged food, to introduce healthy aisles with fruits and vegetables.
But Massachusetts officials need to introduce fresh produce to all areas of the state. This begins with first investigating Massachusetts’ agricultural programs.
Ag in Massachusetts
Massachusetts’ agriculture industry is ranked 47th in the state (yikes). This isn’t surprising, however, as the state only possesses 7,241 farms. In comparison, a more rural area, such as West Virginia, possesses 23,000 farms–more than twice that of Massachusetts.
Farmland, however, isn’t an issue, especially in the 21st century.
More than one third of Massachusetts’ agricultural production comes from greenhouse and nursery commodities. In today’s day and age, this means there is room for growth. Specifically (and quite literally), upward growth.
Vertical farming, an indoor farming practice in which produce is grown in vertically stacked layers using soil, water, or air as a “medium,” could be the solution to Massachusetts’ food deserts. And Freight Farms, a Boston company, has taken vertical farming to a whole new level.
Freight Farms
Freight Farms is a Boston company that manufactures indoor farms using shipping containers. Because they are small and easily transportable, these indoor farms are perfect for introducing fresh produce to areas in need.
Freight Farms’ newest container, the Greenery, houses the equivalent of 3.5 acres of produce without the need for farmland. In addition to this, it uses 99.8 percent less water than a traditional farm.
According to the USDA, agriculture accounts for 80 percent of the United States’ consumptive water use. These indoor farms will spell good news for drought-prone areas, as more water will be allocated for human use rather than cropland. In addition to helping people, these indoor farms will help the environment. Traditional agriculture practices degrade the soil, as it is tilled to prepare land for annual crops. In addition to this, fertilizers and pesticides pollute water resources and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Indoor farming will eliminate these issues.
In cities, where cropland is scarce, these indoor farms will provide farmers the opportunity to grow fresh produce locally. Massachusetts food deserts will now have access to fresh produce as well, as these indoor farms can be sold directly to grocery stores. Grocers won’t have to worry about growing the food or even hiring farmers. According to Jon Friedman, co-founder, customers can “have the farm onsite or remotely, and we run it so that they don’t have to have the full scope of involvement, but they can still see the benefits.”
These freight containers could potentially be used as farmer’s markets as well, planted in food deserts for locals to grab fresh produce.
Pretty neat, huh?
Indoor farming, however, does come with some pitfalls.
Could Indoor Farms Solve the Problem of Food Deserts?
In theory, they could. They certainly could.
There is a price, however, to these farms. And we must keep in mind that food deserts are primarily located in poor neighborhoods.
Food produced by indoor farms is very expensive. According to research, produce from container farms is 11 times more expensive than produce from traditional farms. (Read this article on the Economics of Local Vertical and Greenhouse Farming for more information.) In addition to this, only a limited variety of produce can be grown in a controlled, indoor environment.
If we could find a way to lower the price of indoor farms, they could very well provide a solution to food deserts. For now, however, increasing access to healthy produce by introducing grocery stores and traditional farmer’s markets is the best solution to help food insecure people. Massachusetts indoor farms and grocery vans can help reduce the number of food deserts in the state.
Sources:
Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources
Agricultural Resources Facts and Statistics
Massachusetts Food Trust Program
