Assessing Access to Local Food System Initiatives in Fairbanks, Alaska

Abstract

Local food system initiatives are an increasingly popular attempt to address environmental and social-equity problems that seem to be inherent in the conventional global food system. However, relatively few studies have been undertaken to assess the ability of local food system initiatives to ameliorate these concerns. This study focuses on a community with food system vulnerabilities related to geographic isolation and a marginal agricultural climate that limits local food production. The study seeks to develop tools to test hypotheses important to this community and others: whether local foods can be as physically and economically accessible as conventional foods. Using spatial analysis and quantitative price comparisons, the study concludes that at this time, locally grown foods in Fairbanks, Alaska, are not as accessible as conventional foods. The tools applied in this study could be used elsewhere to develop a more robust literature on the impact of local food system initiatives on urban food systems.

Measuring the Potential and Realized (or Revealed) Spatial Access from Places of Residence and Work to Food Outlets in Rural Communities of Québec, Canada

“…Distances are also greater than the ones reported by the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the nearest supermarket (3.1 miles or 4.9 km) [39] as well as the ones found in the Brazos Valley in central Texas (8.9 miles or 12.9 km) [40]. Nevertheless, our results are similar to those reported by Connell et al (2007) (30 miles or 48 km) in the Mississippi Delta [41], and by Meadow (2012) in rural areas of Fairbanks, Alaska, (20 and 12 miles or 32 and 19 km) [38].…”

The Importance of Local Foods to Users of Food Pantries in Accessible Rural Alaska

“…It is acknowledged in this discourse that income shapes people's ability to purchase local produce or engage in gardening. Alaskans with higher incomes are more likely to consume foods from their gardens and purchase food from farmers; conversely, Alaskans with incomes below the poverty level are least likely to consume food from their gardens or purchase from farmers (Meadow, 2012; State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services [DHSS], Obesity Prevention and Control Program, 2013). Some efforts to increase access to locally grown produce target people with low incomes; for example, in line with national trends, the number of statesanctioned Alaskan farmers markets has increased from 13 in 2005 to 41 in 2014 (Naegele, 2015) to 43 in 2017 (Buy Alaska Grown, 2017).…”