LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — In Kentucky's second-largest city, dozens struggle with food access, particularly in the northern part of town.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture looked at census data from 2019 and identified several different areas as food deserts.
They define a food desert as an urban area that's more than a mile from a grocery store or food market, with a large share of the population considered low-income. Many of the people in food deserts don't have access to transportation or use public options.
In 2015, an estimated 12.7 percent of U.S. census tracts were "low-income" and with limited access to food stores.
West Loudon Avenue in Lexington sits in one of several of these areas.
It’s where Ashley Smith and her team at Black Soil are connecting Black farmers to urban families through agritourism at their fulfillment center.
"This is our headquarters where we receive our products from the farmers. They're located all across the state,” said Smith as she walked around the room.
Black Soil started out by getting people out to rural areas for farm tours. Smith says their mission became a quest for equity in the agriculture business.
“I saw Lexingtonians who were not represented in a lot of the decisions around substantial amounts of funding, budgetary allotments, opportunity,” said Smith. So she looked for a solution.
It’s been almost six years since Smith created a seat at the table, turning her love for food into more than $1 million in investments to help remove gaps in black farmers, agriculture business and healthy food access.
"I've always kind of been the underdog and kind of rooted for the underdog," said Smith.
Because of their location, they also serve as a hub for walkable fresh food access.
With the onset of the pandemic, our biggest pivot was to increase and expand food access," said Smith.
The center takes walk-ins for food, candles, and other items Monday through Friday 12 to 3 p.m.
Mayor Linda Gorton’s announcement of a Mobile Market making stops in food-insecure areas across Lexington called attention to a need to “address insufficient nutrition, improve general health, and address childhood obesity.”
Gorton said the creation follows up on one of the recommendations of her Commission for Racial Justice and Equality, which noted that most African Americans in Lexington live in census tracts where there are not nearby grocery stores.
Tiffany Brown, Chief Equity and Implementation Officer, says the problem stems from a lack of investment in the northern hemisphere of Lexington.
"I know we like to say food desert. I like to say food apartheid because these are decisions. These aren't things that are just naturally occurring. These are decisions that have been made year over year around how we build our communities," said Brown about the lack of grocery stores. “When they leave or when they don't build in certain areas of our city, our citizens go lacking and without access to healthy fresh produce.”
The city is partnering with Kroger and God’s Pantry Food Bank to bring an aisle on wheels to shoppers in some of those areas this summer for a small discount.
They plan to study routes to better the process. Brown hopes it lights a path for long-term solutions.
“It will prove to organizations, corporations, maybe even co-ops that they’re viable for a physical building to be in those neighborhoods,” said Brown.
She acknowledged Black Soil among other partners who helped bring the vision to life.
