Where grow food? A suitability analysis of where to establish a new bio-intensive farm plot in Southeast Virginia
Section I: Introduction As nations around the world become more urbanized, and as space suitable for agriculture amounts to a premium , people living in urban areas will need to seek alternative methods to acquire fresh produce. A lack of ready access to fresh produce has both environmental and human health consequences. A study by Pearce, et.al. (2007) revealed a strong indication of “food deserts” in economically deprived urban neighborhoods in New Zealand. Food deserts are areas where people have a long travel distance to full-service grocery stores compared to fast-food restaurants and convenient stores. Their study revealed total distances to full-service grocery stores were longer than distances to fast-food restaurant within economically poor urban areas in New Zealand. There exists a general lack of understanding of where food comes from, as well. A reliance on large grocery stores with expensive food coming from great distances has revealed a pop