food accessibility austin, tx research paper

8/9/2019 Food Accessibility Austin, TX Research Paper

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Food Accessibility and Security:

A Case Study of Austin, TX

1. INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH QUESTION

1.1 Topic

The ability to access food sources is a requirement for human survival. Whether or not a

person has this ability can be the difference between health and illness. In extreme cases, food

accessibility can be the difference between life and death. The prevalence of gas stations,

convenience stores, and fast food restaurants in urban areas, means that access to any type of

food source is not as widespread of a problem as is access to healthy and nutritious food sources,

but access to either continues to be an issue, especially in low-income areas. For this reason, I

have chosen to research and analyze food accessibility in Austin, Texas. Firstly my research

seeks to try and identify what exactly access to food means, and how the definition can vary by

person. It also will identify the food deserts in Austin (locations without a food source

nearby). It will then identify what races or ethnicities are most susceptible to food deserts, and

the possible reasons behind my results. In conclusion, I will offer policy solutions to help

mitigate issues of food security and accessibility in Austin, and will suggest ideas for further

research.

1.2 Literature Review

Food accessibility and security is a developing topic of study. The collection of literature

on the subject is limited, and most of the research is location specific. A lot of the focus of food

accessibility studies has been surrounding the notion of sustainable food sources, urban

agriculture and community gardens. Most of the literature seeks to identify ways to mitigate

issues of food accessibility and security (or lack thereof). It also seeks to provide possible policy

solutions to help deal with growing economic, environmental, and health related pressures of

food consumption in the United States.

A publication from the U.S. Department of Agriculture titled Access to Affordable and

Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences attempts


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to do both1. It is an extensive piece of literature, covering most topics of food accessibility. The

content of the report helped shape my own research and provided with me with preliminary ideas

for methodology and depth of analysis. The entire report, extending over 100 pages, was highly

informative. Certain pieces of information and insights stood out, however, as especially

relevant to my study. Firstly, according to this publication, 5.7 percent of all households [do

not] always have the food they want or need because of access limitations (13). Additionally,

the publication described multiple different types of food sources, giving way to the assumptions

and definitions I provide in the next subsection of this paper. The report states, Among the

various forms of food retailers, supermarkets, supercenters, and warehouse club stores combined

account for the largest share of food sales, 75.2 percent of the total in 2008 (Economic Research

Service, 2009). These larger retail outlets typically offer all major food departments, including

fresh produce, meat, poultry and seafood, as well as more economical package sizes and lower

cost store brands and generic brands of packaged foods. Many studies have shown large retail

outlets are more affordable relative to other retail food outlets (14). The report also lists a

series of policy suggestions for cities to consider. These include providing incentives for new

stores to locate in low-income areas, community-level interventions (farmers markets,

community gardens, etc.), transportation improvements, and even zoning interventions to allow

food retailers to locate closer to residential areas.

Another piece of literature that is highly relevant to my study is titled Access Denied:

An Analysis of Problems Facing East Austin Residents in Their Attempts to Obtain Affordable,

Nutritious Food2. The article can be found under the resources section of Austins sustainable

food center website (sustainablefoodcenter.org). This analysis, exploring food security issues in

east Austin, is a more qualitative analysis than the first study. The article includes interviews

with east side residents about their food consumption, a detailed description of retail food

sources in east Austin, and suggestions for policies that are tailored to meet the needs of east

Austin residents. The article does talk about access to food, but spends most of its discussion

1United States Department of Agriculture, Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and

Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences .2

Sustainable Food Center, Access Denied: An Analysis of problems Facing East Austin Residents in Their

Attempts to Obtain Affordable and Nutritious Food.


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covering the quality of food establishments in east Austin, and east side residents personal

experiences shopping for food.

1.3 Assumptions

A problem with this analysis, and any similar analysis, is that access can be defined in

multiple ways, and no definition is mutually exclusive of another. Whether or not someone has

access to food varies based on a multitude of factors including (but not limited to) that persons

spatial location, the cost of transportation, the cost of food, and the opportunity cost of the time it

takes that person to travel and shop. It should also account for peoples consumption preferences

and dietary requirements. Additionally, its important to note that even if all else is equal,

elderly, frail, or handicapped people might have a more difficult time accessing food than others.

As an example of these situations: if a person lives within a half mile of grocery store but does

not own a car, do they have access to food? Or if a person resides ten miles from the nearest

grocery store, but owns a car, do they not have access to food? Because there are so many

factors indicating access to something, data collection and analysis is extremely burdensome, and

in some cases may not be possible. On the other hand, applying a single limiting factor to the

definition of access such as distance to a food source severely narrows the scope of the analysis

but creates a consistent and quantitative measure to work with. For the purposes of this analysis,

however, this is the definition I have chosen to use. More specifically, I have classified anyone

residing within a half-mile buffer zone from a food source as having access to food. Anyone

outside of this buffer zone is considered to not have access to food.

The second assumption I made, for the purposes of this analysis, is that there are only

three types of food sources: specialty or convenience stores, full service grocery stores, and

community gardens. Specialty grocery stores and convenience stores typically offer limited food

choices. These types of stores may include locations that are only selling specific ethnic foods,

and therefore do no appeal to a wide population. They may also include gas station stores, or

corner stores. These stores are built for a neighborhood environment, and due the resulting

diseconomy of scale they are only able to sell goods with a high profit margin such as candy,

sodas, other snack foods, and often beer and wine. Often these stores do not have the refrigerator

capacity to sell produce or fresh foods, generally with the exception of milk and butter and other


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similar items. Typically, the food items sold there are sold at inflated prices. Most importantly,

these stores are qualified as ones being unable to sell the types of foods necessary for families to

provide healthy and balanced meals. Full service grocery stores, on the contrary, are ones

classified as serving produce and meats. These types of stores more often than not are built to

serve major populations of people, and are often found on large lots. They offer a wide variety

of foods, and typically prices at these stores are lower than those at convenience stores. Often

these stores are chain stores, i.e. HEB, The A&P, Randalls, etc. Due to the corporate nature of

these stores, they are often strategically located to be near dense populations that meet a certain

income threshold. Finally, community gardens are local, neighborhood-based operations. The

policies and procedures of these gardens vary by locations, but typically a community garden

will provide fresh produce for members in exchange for volunteer labor at the garden a few

hours a week. The produce provided at these gardens is locally produced, is organic, and could

potentially be an excellent resource for low-income families and individuals. The prevalence of

these gardens varies by locations, but in Austin specifically they are not particularly widespread.

1.4 Hypothesis

After performing the preliminary research, prior to collecting my data, I hypothesized that food

deserts would be most predominately found in the east side of Austin. Austin is both physically

and symbolically divided by Interstate-35, a major highway built over the former East Avenue,

effectively bisecting the city. Figure 1.1, depicted on the next page shows the income disparity

between the east and west side of Austin. While this image was developed from 1990 Census

data, it still provides an accurate representation. Due to lower incomes on the east side it seems

likely that larger chain grocery stores would be hesitant to locate there.


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1.5 Data Sources

All the data used in my analysis was found from two sources. Every food source location

was found using a combination of Google Earth and Google Maps, and population and

race/ethnicity data were from Census 2000 GIS layers.

1.6 Methodology

The following paragraphs delineate step by step the measures I took to effectively

complete my analysis of food accessibility in Austin:

1) After locating all the food sources in Google Earth, I saved the data as a .kmz file, and

opened it in Microsoft Excel. Each data point had the name of the grocery store, its

address, and a set of coordinates. I added an additional column in the excel document so

that I could classify all data points by their food source type. To ensure proper

Figure 1.1


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classification, I utilized Google Earths street view tool in combination with internet

research. I made phone calls to establishments I was unsure about.

2) Once the data was properly classified and organized, I moved to ArcGIS. In

ArcCatalog I navigated to my excel file and used it to create three new feature classes,

i.e. new layers to use in a map document. The three layers were any food source which

included all of three food sources, the second was only full service grocery stores, and

the final was only community gardens.

3) After creating the new GIS layers, I started a new map document with two layers: my

any food source data layer, and the Travis County Census 2000 SF1 data layer.

4) Using ArcGISs buffer tool, I created half-mile buffers around each data point.

5) To collect specific quantitative information about the number of people residing within

the half-mile buffers I had to join the two layers. I then utilized GISs select tool to select

all the census blocks that had their centroid within each buffer. When the census block

polygons were selected I was able to open the layers attribute people and sum the

number of people, by race and ethnicity, in the selected census blocks.

Note: It is important to note that this method does not produce fully accurate population

numbers within the half-mile buffers. It is impossible to know exactly how many people

(and of what race/ethnicity) are residing in specific locations within a census block

without doing a field surveya task unfit for this analysis. GIS offered a number of

options for selecting block groups within the buffer zones, each with its own limitations.

These options consisted of selecting block groups that 1) intersect with the buffer zones,

2) are completely within the buffer zones, or 3) have their centroid within the buffer

zones. The first option resulted in a gross over-selection of census blocks. The second

option resulted in an under-selection. The third option provided more of a balance, but

the population and race/ethnicity numbers presented are still just a close estimate.


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6) I repeated steps 3-5 with my remaining two data layers (full service and community

gardens).

2. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

2.1 Analysis: Using Population Data to Identify Food Deserts in Austin

The first map document, figure 2.1 shown below, depicts any food source in Austin, laid

over the Census 2000 population data for Travis County. As explained by the maps legend, the

dark brown colored blocks have the highest populations while the light yellow blocks have the

smallest populations. The light blue circles represent the half-mile buffer zones, the black

outline delineates Austins city limits, and the gray line bisecting the map is Interstate-35. From

Source: Google Earth and Census SF1 2000 (data), Ashley Livingston (image)

Figure 2.1 Any Food Source with Population


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a first glance at the map it is clear that the east side of Austin is home to less food sources than

the west side, particularly the southeast, but the difference is not hugely dramatic, especially

when taking note of the large food deserts in the more densely populated areas in northwest

Austin. Before looking at exact population numbers, though, it is hard to tell where in Austin

residents are more susceptible to a lack of food source.

The same map was created for full service grocery stores and community gardens

(figures 2.2 and 2.3 respectively). Figure 2.2 tells a considerably more interesting story than

Figure 2.1. While figure 2.1 indicates that east Austin is somewhat lacking in food sources, we

are unclear as to what types of food sources those are. It becomes obvious when looking at

figure 2.2, however, that east Austin is severely lacking full service grocery stores. Nearly all of

east Austins population is without access to a grocery store that sells meat and produce.


Figure 2.2 Full Service Grocery with Population


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This lack of access could have severe implications for residents in east Austin,

specifically those without vehicles. These residents have very few options: be reliant on public

transportation to access full service grocery stores, or do their shopping at small convenience

stores. Relying on public transportation severely limits the amount of food one can purchase,

and means that people must make more trips to the grocery store. For certain low income

families, frequent trips to the grocery store take up time that might need to be devoted to

working, child care, etc. Shopping at convenience stores, however, means that people are more

often than not without access to the types of food necessary to sustain a healthy and nutritious

diet.

Figure 2.3, however, tells an opposing tale. The largest concentration of community

gardens is on the east side of Austin. This could be a result of variety of things, including a

higher prevalence of cheaper land on the eastside, more space to locate a community garden, and


Figure 2.3 Community Gardens with Population


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a greater demand for low priced produce. While community gardens offer residents alternative

and generally cheaper options for purchasing (or cultivating) food, due to their variation in size,

quality, management, and efficiency it is difficult to claim reliability across the board. Their

presence can, however, provide relief for certain families, and without a doubt community

gardens are helping pave the way to a more sustainable food system.

2.2 Analysis: Determining Food Accessibility by Race/Ethnicity

After locating the food deserts in Austin by looking at the population as a whole, I felt it

was important to make conclusions about whether or not certain races were more or less affected

by these food deserts. The image below, figure2.4 helps depict this information. The bottom

three layers of the image represent the population densities for whites, African Americans, and


Figure 2.4 Population Density Comparison


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Latinos. The dark blue color indicates census blocks with high percentages of that race (i.e. most

of the people residing on that census block are of that particular race). The top layer of the image

shows Austins city limits with the buffer zones for each of the food sources I located. The

figure helps make comparisons by race/ethnicity, and helps draw conclusions about who in

Austin may have more or less access to food.

It is clear, as depicted by figure 2.4, that there are higher percentages of African

Americans and Latinos residing on the east side of I-35. As determined in the first part of my

analysis, we know that the largest food deserts (especially full service grocery food deserts)

are also on the east side of I-35. Therefore, at first glance it might appear that African

Americans and Latinos have disproportionately low levels of food accessibility. After tabulating

the data in GIS, however, I was surprised to see that this is not necessarily true.

Table 2.1, below, shows the number of people in each race/ethnicity within the buffer

zones (estimated by the method described in Chapter 1). Figure 2.5, shows how these figures

translate into percentages. As you can see, 23% of the Latino population and 22% of the white

population have access to full service grocery stores. Only 17% of the African American

population has access to a full service grocery store. And contrary to my hypothesis, 56% of the

Latino population has access to any food source, whereas only 45% of the white population has

access to any food source. African Americans fall in the middle, at 52%.

Source: Census SF1 Data 2000

Table 2.1 Food Accessibility by Population


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However, to properly interpret these results it is important to firstly revisit the definition

of access. Spatial proximity to a food source in reality does not necessarily imply access.

Likewise, living far from a food source does not preclude access. Additionally, it is very

important to consider income levels when making a true judgment about food accessibility.

Access to a vehicle, travel time, and opportunity cost all play a part in whether or not someonehas access to something. Lower incomes on the east side necessarily limit the number of people

who truly have access to food, and my results do not properly account for that.

Secondly, it is important to understand some possible underlying causes for these results.

By looking at Figure 2.4 we can see that the white population is scattered throughout a majority

of Austin, including the east side, whereas African American and Latino populations are more

spatially concentrated on only the east side. It is possible that this discrepancy could account for

the lower percentage of food accessibility for the white population.

Figure 2.5


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3. GOING FURTHER

If I were to move forward with this analysis, I would like to investigate a number of

things more deeply:

y Firstly, I would like to study effects of food deserts on a more complete range ofraces. I would also like to wait until Census 2010 data is available to get the most

recent and accurate population data available.

y I would like to supplement the first part of my analysis, and use GIS to createsimilar map document, only this time with income data as my underlay layer.

Understanding food deserts in relation to low-income areas will give a deeper

understanding of where outreach and policy programs should focus their efforts.

y Like described in the USDA report, a thorough and more accurate foodaccessibility study must include a vehicle accessibility study. In cities and

locations such as Austin that have limited public transportation options, the

availability of personal transportation plays a major role in whether or not a

person has access to food. When vehicle accessibility is included in the analysis,

spatial proximity to a grocery store becomes a less revealing, and less valuable

measure of accessibility. This method of evaluation is not as important in highly

dense cities with well-developed public transportation systems such as Manhattan,or Washington D.C. but should still be considered.

y A more in depth analysis might also include household surveys, which can provide more qualitative information as to personal perceptions of food

accessibility, and whether or not a household has it. Household surveys can also

help give more accurate demographic information, and can allow for more

complete information about the people residing within the half-mile buffer zones.

y A more in depth analysis would include not only the three food sources includedin this analysis, but also restaurants and fast food establishments, which according

to the USDA accounts for almost half of all food spending in the United States

(16). It should also include non-traditional food retailers, such as Costco, Target,

Walmart, etc. that sell food along with other retail products.


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y Finally, when analyzing accessibility to food using spatial location, its importantto consider not only the relationship between home and food sources, but school

and food sources, and employment and food sources.

4. CONCLUSION

While my results indicated that there is little discrepancy between white populations and

Latino populations in terms of food accessibility, my analysis was limited and in reality probably

does not give a true picture of food accessibility in Austin. The information is useful, however,

nonetheless. Knowing where food deserts are located, and knowing how many people are within

a close distance of a grocery store is key when developing policy solutions. For instance, while

the USDA publication recommended instituting incentives for grocery stores to locate in new

areas, this step is unlikely to be too effective in Austin. On the other hand, improving

transportation options to grocery stores, or utilizing larger scale community food sources such as

farmers markets and community gardens could make a large difference. It also helps policy

makers and practitioners outreach to appropriate audiences.

food accessibility austin, tx research paper

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