Literature on the topic of food access has cited farmers’ markets as a “win-win-win” solution for enhancing food access, nutrition, and sustainable agricultural. Multiple problems exist with this framework: farmers’... [ view full abstract ]
Literature on the topic of food access has cited farmers’ markets as a “win-win-win” solution for enhancing food access, nutrition, and sustainable agricultural. Multiple problems exist with this framework: farmers’ markets are generally considered “elite” or “white” spaces and are not evenly distributed over space, farmers’ market prices do not appeal to low-income communities, and farmers’ markets are generally open only once a week during the growing season, not providing a reliable year-round food purchasing space.
In Washington, DC, 52 of the 54 farmers’ markets offer at least one food access program in an effort to expand healthy food access to a broader range of customers. However, the issue of food access extends beyond numbers of program offerings: food access is an inherently spatial and temporal concept. Previous work on urban food access has thoroughly examined demographic and location factors influencing access to supermarkets, but few studies have investigated the role that operating time and location of farmers’ markets play in enhancing food access in urban areas.
I contribute to research addressing questions about locations and demographic compositions of urban food deserts. To understand the effect of farmers’ markets on food deserts, I use demographic data for the DC area– such as income and race–, network analysis of time and distance to access farmers’ markets, and data on individual farmers’ market program offerings and temporal openings. Overall, I present a novel analysis and critique existing literature on farmers’ markets and food access by considering the limited temporality of farmers’ markets.
