A Solution to Food Deserts: Micro Farms. Social Sciences Research (Research Paper Sample)

Crystal Mathison
Professor Harris
Written Communication
15 October 2020
A Solution to Food Deserts: Micro Farms.
In the United States, about 23.5 million people live in food deserts, low-income areas with limited access to affordable, healthy food such as fresh fruits and vegetables CITATION Uni18 \l 1033 (United States Department of Agriculture). Residents of food deserts often have poor diets and related health problems, including diabetes and heart disease. Most food deserts are in cities such as Detroit, Milwaukee, Phoenix, and Oklahoma CityCITATION Placeholder1 \l 1033 (Johnson). However, living in a rural area does not guarantee an abundance of fresh food options. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that around 2.3 million people, or 2.2 percent of all U.S. households, live in low-income rural areas that are more than 10 miles from a grocery store.
A recent trend in agriculture called micro-farming presents a possible solution to food deserts. A micro-farm is a small-scale farm that uses less than five acres of land to raise vegetables, fruit, nuts, herbs, mushrooms, and even small livestock CITATION Mov15 \l 1033 (Movahed). Because micro-farms are compact, farmers do not need to invest in expensive equipment such as tractors and harvesters but can use hand tools to manage their plots. Rather than relying on harmful herbicides, pesticides,