As mentioned in what a food desert is, the three problems that cause this conundrum is lack of stores available, a large distance between the person and the store, if there's one, and the family's income.
People with knowledge of food deserts are familiar of the 1 mile distance stretch to get to markets, but there are cities that contain them as far as 20 miles! According to a PBS News Hour report, Lambert, Mississippi- with a population of 1700- is known to have super markets that are actually 20 miles away. Like in all other areas, there are convenient stores nearby, but they are of no use because of their lack of healthy produce food.
People with knowledge of food deserts are familiar of the 1 mile distance stretch to get to markets, but there are cities that contain them as far as 20 miles! According to a PBS News Hour report, Lambert, Mississippi- with a population of 1700- is known to have super markets that are actually 20 miles away. Like in all other areas, there are convenient stores nearby, but they are of no use because of their lack of healthy produce food.
Finding a place that sells good, fresh food is like looking for a needle in a haystack."
The US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service estimates that 23.5 million people live in food deserts. More than half of them (13.5 million) are low-income and are more than 10 miles away from a market. Like shown in the map above, most of the highlighted area is predominantly African-American. The lack of markets even contributes to health, where residents are low on money and thus, have to settle for the less-expensive junk food. Residents must pay higher prices for groceries at small food shops- an average of 1.6 times more.