BRIDGING THE GAP:DO FARMERS’ MARKETS HELP ALLEVIATE IMPACTS OF FOOD DESERTS? JEREMY L. SAGE,VICKI A. MCCRACKEN, AND RAYNA A. SAGE As evidence mounts regarding the relation- ship between diet and various health indicators such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, and other chronic diseases, the promotion of farm- ers’ markets has been proffered as a means to increase consumption of nutritious foods (Larsen, Story, and Nelson 2009). However, disparities in participation by low-income indi- viduals and communities have also been noted, as many of the beneficiaries of the relocaliza- tion movement are of the metropolitan mid- dle class (Jarosz 2008; Kremer and DeLiberty 2011). The suggestion of a spatial and socioe- conomic disparity in access to these types of healthy food choices is reminiscent of argu- ments made in regard to food and amenity access in general. It has been posed as an effect of the reduction or elimination of urban amenities that reached a low point in the 1980s with net losses of supermarkets in cities while net gains were experienced nationwide (Eisenhauer 2001), mostly in the suburban metropolitan areas. However, in the case of farmers’ markets, it may be the failure of thriving markets to arise in such communi- ties, not necessarily an exodus. Briggs et al. (2010) suggest low-income communities pro- vide unique opportunities for direct marketing as well as economic, social, and even cultural barriers to successful operation. Schmit and Gomez (2011) found that vendors in upstate New York prefer to sell in a limited number Jeremy Sage (jlsage@wsu.edu) is an assistant research profes- sor and Vicki McCracken (mccracke@wsu.edu) is a professor in the School of Economic Sciences at Washington State University. Rayna Sage (rsage@wsu.edu) is a prevention sciences research associate in the Human Development Department at Washington State University. Funding for this research was provided by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin. This article was presented in an invited paper session at the 2013 ASSA annual meeting in San Diego, CA. The articles in these sessions are not subjected to the journal’s standard refereeing process. of markets, thus supporting efforts to centrally locate markets that provide more convenient locations with ample customer base. It is within conclusions such as those of Schmit and Gomez (2011) in which concerns arise over the ability of a relocalized food system to balance food and farm security (Hinrichs and Kremer 2002; Guthman, Morris, and Allen 2006). Seeking the possibility of “win-win” scenarios, Guthman, Morris, and Allen (2006) explicitly ask whether it is pos- sible to simultaneously provide fresh, nutri- tious food that is affordable to low-income consumers while providing adequate returns to small-scale farmers via farmers’ markets. Centralizing farmers’ markets to high-traffic areas undoubtedly provides increased oppor- tunity for market and vendor success and thus positive community outcomes in terms of increased access to fruits and vegetables as well as increased retention of food dollars in the local community. However, its ability to address food security for those most in need of improved access remains to be seen. Largely driven by a push for economies of scale (Kaufman 1998), the effects of a consolidating and centralizing food system (Hendrickson et al. 2001) are already felt throughout many low-income communities, both in urban (Eisenhauer 2001; Larsen and Gilliland 2008; Sparks, Bania, and Leete 2009) and rural settings (Morton and Blanchard 2007; Schafft, Jensen, and Hinrichs 2009; Sharkey 2009). The evolution of the phenomenon now commonly known as “food deserts” is the result ( Wrigley, Warm, and Margetts 2003; Smoyer-Tomic, Spence, and Amrhein 2006; Sparks, Bania, and Leete 2009). Exact and consistent definitions of a food desert across studies are uncommon. For example, Morton and Blanchard (2007) identified food deserts as counties in which all residents must drive Amer. J. Agr. Econ. 95(5): 1273–1279; doi: 10.1093/ajae/aat031 Published online June 12, 2013 © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association. All rights reserved. For permissions,please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com