Community Food Security Programs Improve Food Access

Linda Scott Kantor

Food Review/ National Food Review, 2001, vol. 24, issue 01

Abstract: The Federal nutrition assistance safety net represents the first line of defense in boosting the food purchasing power and improving the nutritional status of lowincome households in the United States. In fiscal 2000, USDA spent an estimated $32.5 billion on food assistance programs, over half of its annual budget. Community-based initiatives, such as farmers markets and community gardens, can boost the effectiveness of USDA nutrition assistance and education programs by increasing the availability of high-quality and affordable food in a community. Such initiatives also support rural comunities by strengthening the traditional ties that exist between farmers and urban consumers. Following congressional passage of the Community Food Security Act of 1996, USDA launched the Community Food Security Initiative in February 1999. This nationwide initiative seeks to forge partnerships between USDA and local communities to build local food systems, decrease need, and improve nutrition. Community food security is a relatively new concept with roots in a variety of disciplines, including community nutrition, nutrition education, public health, sustainable agriculture, and community development. As such, community food security has no universally accepted definition. Researchers at Tufts University view community food security as an expansion of the concept of household food security, which focuses on the ability of a household to acquire enough food for an active, healthy life. Community food security focuses on the underlying social, economic, and institutional factors within a community that affect the quantity, quality, and affordability of food. Researchers at Rutgers University see community food security as a process in which community-based programs work in tandem with a strong Federal nutrition safety net and emergency food assistance programs to move people from poverty to self-sufficiency and food security (see box). This article examines a variety of community food security programs, looking at their scope, their limitations, and their successes.

Keywords: Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Food Security and Poverty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/266234/files/FoodReview-237.pdf (application/pdf)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/266234/files/F ... 7.pdf?subformat=pdfa (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uersfr:266234

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.266234

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Food Review/ National Food Review from United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().