Community food security has roots in disciplines such as community nutrition, nutrition education, public health, sustainable agriculture, and anti-hunger and community development. There is no universally accepted definition of community food security. In the broadest terms, community food security can be described as a prevention-oriented concept that supports the development and enhancement of sustainable, community-based strategies:

• To improve access of low-income households to healthful nutritious food supplies.
• To increase the self-reliance of communities in providing for their own food needs.
• To promote comprehensive responses to local food, farm, and nutrition issues.

Policies and programs implemented under the label of community food security address a diverse range of issues, including:

• Food availability and affordability.
• Direct food marketing.
• Diet-related health problems.
• Participation in and access to Federal nutrition assistance programs.
• Ecologically sustainable agricultural production.
• Farmland preservation.
• Economic viability of rural communities.
• Economic opportunity and job security.
• Community development and social cohesion.

Recent ERS Research

Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts, and Issues--This comprehensive overview of local food systems explores alternative definitions of local food, estimates market size and reach, describes the characteristics of local consumers and producers, and examines early indications of the economic and health impacts of local food systems. Statistics suggest that local food markets account for a small, but growing, share of U.S. agricultural production. For smaller farms, direct marketing to consumers accounts for a higher percentage of their sales than for larger farms.

Food Environment Atlas--Food environment factors-such as store/restaurant proximity, food prices, food and nutrition assistance programs, and community characteristics-interact to influence food choices and diet quality. The Food Environment Atlas assembles statistics on food environment indicators to stimulate research on the determinants of food choices and diet quality and provides a spatial overview of a community's ability to access healthy food and its success in doing so. The Atlas currently includes over 160 indicators of the food environment in three broad categories-food choices, health and well-being, and community characteristics.

Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences--This report summarizes findings of a national-level assessment of the extent and characteristics of food deserts-areas with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, analysis of the consequences of food deserts, lessons learned from related federal programs, and a discussion of policy options for alleviating the effects of food deserts. Overall, findings show that a small percentage of consumers are constrained in their ability to access affordable nutritious food because they live far from a supermarket or large grocery store and do not have easy access to transportation. This report fills a request for a study of food deserts from the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008.

Examples of Strategies and Activities

• Farmers' markets that boost incomes of small local farmers and increase consumers' access to fresh produce.
• Community-supported agriculture programs that provide small-scale farmers with economic stability while ensuring consumer members high-quality produce, often at below retail prices.
• Farm-to-school initiatives 16x16 - PDF that help local farmers sell fresh fruits and vegetables directly to school meals programs.
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) outreach programs such as FNS's Get Involved! that help increase the number of eligible households that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Last updated: Wednesday, August 15, 2012

For more information contact: Margaret Andrews