TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran said Kansas’ status as breadbasket to the nation cannot spare it from food deserts jeopardizing well-being of families without access to affordable, healthy and convenient grocery options.
Moran, a Kansas Republican who co-chairs the Senate’s hunger caucus, said isolation and disruption driven by the COVID-19 pandemic amplified fragility of the grocery pipeline and the reality of food insecurity in Kansas and elsewhere. A reasonable response, he said, would be adoption of federal legislation authorizing one-time tax credits or grants to incentivize construction and renovation of buildings to better serve customers in food deserts.
“Over the past year, we have seen unprecedented need at food banks as Kansans line up seeking access to nutritional food,” Moran said. “This bipartisan legislation, which would incentivize food providers to establish and renovate grocery stores, food banks and farmers markets in communities that traditionally lack affordable, healthy and convenient food options, is now more important than ever.”
Under the legislation, which also was to be introduced in the U.S. House, the federal government would offer one-time 15% tax credits to companies constructing new grocery stores in food deserts defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A 10% tax credit would be available to companies that retrofit a store’s existing healthy food section.
The measure would extend a grant covering 15% of contruction costs to food banks that put up new, permanent structures in a food desert. Likewise, a grant equal to 10% of annual operating costs would be extended to nonprofit farmer markets, food banks and mobile market operations in places designated by USDA.
According to data from the agriculture department, nearly 40 million Americans live without a grocery store within 1 mile in urban regions and 10 miles in rural regions. Kansas produces vast quanties of wheat and beef, but the Kansas Health Foundation reported in 2017 more than 800,000 Kansans lived in a food desert.
USDA said limited access to healthful food placed people at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes. Food deserts were more common in areas with exceptionally sparse and densely population, low incomes, high unemployment, inadequate transportation and places where few retailers provided fresh produce at affordable prices. USDA also said people of color were more likely to reside in a food desert.
“COVID-19 pandemic has made routine tasks like going to the grocery store difficult for millions of Americans, especially for families who live in a food desert and have to travel an extended distance to access healthy foods,” said U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania. “No one in America should be burdened by a simple trip to the grocery store.”
The Senate proposal was endorsed by Bread for the World, Feeding America, Share our Strength and the National Grocers Association.
“With one in six Americans and one in four children experiencing food insecurity during this pandemic, this legislation is desperately needed,” said Heather Valentine of Bread for the World, a Washington, D.C., organization working to end world hunger.
Kate Leone, of the hunger relief organization Feeding America, said the legislation would be a “critical step to give nonprofits and retailers support to increase food access in underserved areas.”
“Independent community grocers are the heartbeat of the areas they serve and historically are leaders in reaching out to those most in need of better food options,” said Molly Pfaffenroth, of National Grocers Association. “Communities are stronger both physically and economically when they have better access to healthy food.”
