Delivery of food may be the way to increase access in rural America, according to a recent report by CoBank. While roughly one in ten Americans faces food insecurity, rural communities are particularly affected.
Rural communities comprise 63 percent of all U.S. counties but 87 percent of the counties with the highest rates of food insecurity. Food delivery has become an expected service for many Americans. However, only 37 percent of rural residents have access to major food delivery services. Delivery mechanisms exist, particularly for shelf-stable food and beverage, even if it takes the form of FedEx, UPS or USPS. Fresh food offerings present another challenge altogether, but more direct-to-consumer approaches should, in the long term, be able to capitalize on improvements in technology to reach those who simply don’t live near a grocery store.
Further, the report suggests that convenience stores, dollar stores and even liquor stores have been considered as possibilities for reducing food insecurity in more rural areas.
Read the full report here: https://www.cobank.com/knowledge-exchange/food-and-beverage/how-delivery-innovation-can-reduce-hunger-in-the-heartland
