The first thing that popped out to me while reading this
week’s readings is that inner-cities or urban areas suffer from a lack of
supermarkets and grocery stores because these businesses prefer to be in the
suburbs where the demographics are usually more wealthy and there is more space
to create larger stores. Larger stores that utilize large lots of land house
more departments, products, services were able to push smaller stores and food
businesses such as bakeries and butcheries out of business, and this makes
since, these larger stores are able to use their size to better regulate their food
distribution, as well as make grocery shopping more convenient for shoppers.
And now it has become the mission of the food systems planner to create infrastructure
or space needed to distribute fresh produce to inner cities and areas that need
it the most. I noted in Winne’s chapter on farmers markets that residents knew
that their low-income neighborhood was not regarded the way wealthier
neighborhoods are when it comes to access to healthier foods, and instead of
having a Whole Foods, they more likely have convenient stores.
However, farmers markets are a great tool for planners to bring
the food distribution of healthy foods to food insecure places like these, and
the number of farmers markets has definitely grown over time. However, the
supermarkets are still the main source of food for most households, so I am
thinking that in order for farmers market to meet a greater customer base, they
too must attain more infrastructure to support them. In order to do this though
there need to be in increase in local farm space as well as a larger distribution
system to support it. There would have to be a great culture shift to allow
this to happen, such as the growth of local farming, better public transportation,
policy that subsidize players in the healthy food distribution system. And another
thing I do not get is that food companies today and in the past heavily use
images of farms, happy farmers, and fresh produce to market their products, yet
in reality their products are not made the way the images on them depict them
too. But still, they are able to sell these products that aim this idea, I want
to ask, how can planners market fresh produce and farmers markets as
successfully as top products to make their claim in their food distribution
system?
Unfortunately, this would not be an easy task. It is so difficult to work against money, especially when there is little, if any money backing you. I think planners will have to make a very real effort to ensure farmers' markets are an integral part of any community. In many cases, this would require policy or ordinance changes as well as changes in community perceptions and habits. I feel it is more difficult to direct people to make healthy changes in their life than to get an ordinance passed. Hopefully we can start making these changes when we are in the field.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point about companies using the image of "farms, happy farmers, and fresh produce" to sell their products, when it's often not the reality. I feel that modern farming and modern mining (and probably other industries as well) have this in common. Many pro-coal mining proponents still think of the historic, nostalgic image of a coal miner, which is the image that many large coal mining companies draw upon when garnering the emotional support of the public. In reality, strip mining (which has been happening since the 70's) is done via heavy machinery. Like the industrialized farmer, the image of a coal miner is more accurately described as a machine operator. Like farming, individual mining jobs have actually decreased in the past few decades because of the switch to mechanized labor. Though surface mining is arguably safer for the worker than more traditional forms of deep mining, I think the overall image and marketing strategy has a similar, misleading impact on consumers and industry supporters.
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