Food Deserts in the United States

To follow up on Dawn O’Brien’s post about the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), I just wanted to post a link to the USDA’s Food Desert Locator. This program maps out areas that are considered food deserts within the United States based on census data. Here is how the USDA defines a food desert: “The HFFI working group defines a food desert as a low-income census tract where a substantial...

New Program to Fund Food Retail Outlets in Food De...

As reported by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), Congress included $32 million in funding for the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) in the recently passed “megabus” appropriations bill for FY 2012. The initiative aims to fund food retail outlets in food deserts. HFFI will provide one-time loan and grant financing to establish, expand, or renovate supermarkets, grocery stores, food...