6 GROUNDCOVER NEWS FOOD ACCESS JANUARY 13, 2023 Ken Parks, Groundcover vendor No. 490, is a regular at Argus Farm Stop on Liberty street where he buys groceries with his Bridge Card. Outside, he has deep conversations with some of the other customers while selling Groundcover News. Every Thursday he picks up his produce box. "I could have used some of this when I made my soup earlier," he said as he opened his weekly surprise. Photo credit: Alexandra Granberg. Local food is better — if you can afford it ALEXANDRA GRANBERG Groundcover contributor “Eat your vegetables.“ A platitude perhaps irritatingly linked to memories of your gradeschool teacher or endless nagging at family dinners. But it strikes a chord when you consider that as many as 85% of Americans really don’t eat enough vegetables. That large majority is lacking the vitamins and minerals essential for normal physical and mental development, based on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recommended daily intake. They are suffering from something called micronutrient deficiency, or hidden hunger. Hidden hunger is a serious public health problem with repercussions beyond the individual. In and of themselves, vitamins don’t contain calories to fill us up when we feel hungry; their absence alone doesn’t lead to malnutrition and weight loss as long as we get enough food of any kind. This makes hidden hunger difficult to detect. But these micronutrients – found in whole foods like beans and vegetables — are vital for maintaining life functions such as the immune system, disease protection and childhood growth. A lack of them can lead to stunted growth, reduced brain function or child and maternal mortality. Not just how much, but what we eat, therefore matters a great deal. Carrot comes to town Dark green and orange vegetables, legumes and whole grains are among the most under-consumed foods worldwide. Thankfully, local food — which rapidly disappeared from our plates with the industrial revolution and subsequent depopulation of rural areas — is coming back around. In Ann Arbor, Argus Farm Stop is spearheading this trend. Their grocery stores/cafes on Liberty and Packard Streets sell only fresh, local products from over 200 producers in the region, year-round. It is a catch-all daily farmer’s market if you will. Though the Ann Arbor Farmers Market offers many of the same products, it is open only twice a week — once a week in the winter. Unlike a traditional retail model, Argus uses a consignment model which allows producers to set their own prices. In this setup, producers keep 70 percent of the sales price of their goods, as opposed to the 15 percent they might get in a traditional retail relationship. This arrangement has helped generate more than $15 million in income for local producers since 2014. This is all good. Small, local businesses can provide an opportunity for communities to take control of their economy. Money spent at local businesses is more likely to stay in the community, and the wealth created is less likely to end up as over-inflated corporate profit. Local producers also tend to care more about the impact their products have on a community, as they are part of that community themselves. With food, this often means less of the harmful chemicals and toxic sprays otherwise used in the industry — better for local ecosystems and biodiversity, and for human health. Transportation routes are radically shortened, leaving much smaller carbon footprints. And wider access to healthy, fresh and seasonal products – in Ann Arbor seven days a week thanks to Argus — means more people get to enjoy these goodies. In other words, locally grown food benefits most people. But in one important aspect it benefits some more than others. Double hunger, triple burden In Washtenaw County an estimated 38,470 people are experiencing food insecurity — meaning they lack the economic means to buy enough food — according to Feeding America. More than 33 million people nationwide, about 10% of Americans, are food-insecure according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Food insecurity among Black and Hispanic people is close to double that, 19.8% and 16.2% respectively. The modern, high-sugar, low-nutrient diet is shared by almost every one of us — 85% evidently — including those who could afford better food. But it affects the least affluent most. When we talk about food security, we often mean access to enough quantities of food to fill stomachs. While this might meet the most acute need, hidden hunger is growing. Not only do people who experience food insecurity typically consume fewer calories overall, on average they eat half as much fruit as someone who is food secure. Proteins and whole grain products are also frequently missing from an already sparse diet. see LOCAL page 11
7 Publizr Home