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I. Introduction
Establishing practical methods of measuring com-
munity food security is an essential requirement
when considering how to reinvent our current food
distribution system (Anderson and Cook, 1998).
Without actual guidelines, appropriate measure-
ments, or a clear understanding of what security
means for a particular local region, the ability of
researchers to undertake investigative measures that
try to understand and/or prevent future inefficiencies
is doomed to repeat past mistakes. These ineffi-
ciencies are not statistical in nature, but exist as the
health of each citizen within this country. A recent
article by Cummins and Macintrye (2005) establish-
es the research position that the decision an individ-
ual makes about what they are going to eat, actually
has very little to do with what they want, and more
to do with what is available and acceptable within
there social environment. An example would be the
ability to buy what is considered “organic” produce
and foodstuffs in today’s grocery stores; whereas
twenty years ago, to ask a salesclerk about this prod-
uct would only warrant strange looks.
So if what is provided in our supermarkets, gro-
cery stores, corner stores, restaurants, and fast-food
eateries, is determined more by a larger series of
social factors, such as access, availability, price, and
desire; than these should be the areas to focus inves-
tigative research on. One area of food security that
has gained notable support is the notion of accessi-
bility. A person who lives in a certain neighborhood
The Spatial and Socioeconomic Features of Drop-off Sites for CSA Farms within the Milwaukee Metro Area
Mark Caldwell*··Woonsup Choi**··Chulsue Hwang***
Abstract : The aim of this project has been to plot the locations of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) drop-offsites in the Milwaukee Metro Area. Based on the eleven farm’s drop-off sites, a public Google Map has been createdshowing these drop-off points and the appropriately linked farms. In the focus of socioeconomic interests, these siteshave been correlated with 2000 Census tract information dealing with percentages of White and Black neighborhoods,rates of bachelor’s degrees and areas where median income is below $10,000 dollars. Results show that drop-off sitesare clustered in those areas where there is a higher concentration of White residents, in contrast to few or no drop-offsites in predominantly Black tracts sites. As well, the majority of locations lie in areas where there are high rates ofBachelor degrees, showing a potential connection with educational obtainment and dietary trends. Lastly,neighborhoods that have significant proportions of the population living below the poverty line have little or no drop-off sites in operation. Store front and traditional churches have been identified that may act as community sites for theestablishment of new CSA locations in these disaffected areas.
Key Words : Community Supported Agriculture(CSA), drop-off locations, spatial & socioeconomic divide
The Geographical Journal of Korea Vol. 44, No. 3, 2010 (281~288)
* Graduate Student, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee** Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin ([email protected])
*** Corresponding Author, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Kyung Hee University ([email protected])
should be able to buy and consume foods that pro-
vide nutrition and sustenance for themselves and
their family.
Yet, there are social barriers that create incongru-
encies in the food landscape. Two major factors that
shape food access, are socioeconomic status and
therefore the neighborhood an individual habitats. A
study conducted on commercial food stores across
28,050 zip codes based on 2000 Census data, con-
cluded that if you live in a lower income neighbor-
hood, you will have 25% less grocery stores and
supermarkets as compared to someone who is mid-
dle class, and if you are African-American you will
have 50% less supermarkets and grocery stores than
someone who is White (Powell et al., 2007). These
Figures show a stark discrepancy in access, and
brings about the question; if someone doesn’t have
access to basic foodstuffs due to a lack of grocery
stores, than what do they have access to?
The answer is an increase in fast-food and conve-
nient stores. In a series of recent articles conducted
utilizing GIS mapping software and multivariate
regressions techniques, a pattern appears that shows
two trends. First, the creation over time of food
deserts, or pockets of a city that do not have ade-
quate access to nutritional and affordable food, is
based on the changing demographics of the city,
where there are twice the rates of fast food restau-
rants in African-American and lower income neigh-
borhoods; and second the rate of growth for these
stores coincides with a correlative decrease in super-
markets within those same neighborhoods
(Chaloupka et al., 2007).
Bringing about the question: what causes super-
market relocation and expansion into certain areas of
the city and the outlying periphery? Larsen and
Gilliand(2008) examined the way that supermarket
locations within London, Ontario from 1961-2005,
went from being highly clustered within the periph-
ery of the city, to being highly dispersed into the
suburban middle income areas around the city, leav-
ing the lower income regions in the center empty.
Another study conducted in Montreal (Apparicio et
al., 2007) reiterates those results by adding the
dimension of three measurements they used which
controlled there research focus: proximity, diversity,
and variety. The variety and diversity means what
kind of food is available to consume as well as pur-
chase for cooking. Each of these factors showed a
significant insufficiency in those neighborhoods
within the city that thirty years prior, and inhabited
by a growing middle class population, had sufficient
access to a variety of food stores. A display of the
way food networks are designed to be most affective
for those groups that have a greater amount of eco-
nomic and cultural capital.
So how to provide for those areas that are most
excluded? In terms of distance traveled, nutrition
received and dollar saved. This brings about the
need to re-establish new ways of providing healthy
and inexpensive food in areas that need more
options than are currently available. A potential in
roads into this distribution network may lie in
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA’s, where
farmer’s offer shares of their farm and yield to the
public for a set seasonal fee. When food is available,
residents meet at a set location where the farmer’s
drop-off there crops, interact and exchange informa-
tion with their patrons, and get feedback about
what’s desired. CSA networks are currently spread-
ing in towns and cities across the country, but
remain available in part to those groups that have the
social access to these farming locations and the abili-
ty to travel longer distances to receive there shares.
Mark Caldwell·Woonsup Choi·Chulsue Hwang
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A recent phenomenon in information network
technologies, Google Maps is an interface GIS sys-
tem that is utilizes simple user tool box and drop
menu to generate any array of interest. The research
interests of this project built upon two other models
that have been established; the first focusing on
Boston Community Gardens (CandiceBNAN,
2009), which is an extension of the Boston Natural
Areas Network, which is continuing to plot urban
garden projects, volunteer resource sites and educa-
tional facilities. The second organization, the Land
Stewardship Project created a CSA Twin Cities
Directory Drop Site map (Cael et al., 2009) that
establishes exact and non-exact drop site locations,
as well as those farms that provide CSA shares to the
Minneapolis and St. Paul cities of Minnesota. Using
this second model, the Google Map that has been
established reflects those indicators of site and farm
locations.
The indirect goals of this study are continuously
changing based on the focus of the information that
has been gathered. Yet the aim of this inquiry was
first and foremost to gather information, and then to
process this information into a form that could be
correlated and displayed so that any person, espe-
cially those non-GIS users could see the social
impact of this current food distribution system with
images instead of words. This has an important place
in the transference and communication of complex
ideas with readily identifiable mapping imagery.
II. Study Data
The raw concept originated when the researcher
attended the 8th Annual Farmer and Food Open
House at the Urban Ecology Center of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. Upon entering the facility, a lamented
topological map was displayed in the far corner of
the lobby. Outlined in detail where the locations of
the farms and there drop-off sites within the
Milwaukee Metro Area. The immediate research
interest in food network systems and geographical
information systems elicited the necessity to find out
where this information came from, so as to generate
a digital component and analyze potential social
trends. After a series of short introductions with
approximately five staff, the contact information of
Jamie Ferschinger, the Community Development
Coordinator, was provided as the person who creat-
ed the data shown on the map. From a meeting with
Jamie, a word document was given to the researcher
which had some basic questions about location, con-
tact information and food availability, as well as a
questionnaire about farming practices.
III. Results: Race, Education, Incomeand Community Links
The information provided from the word docu-
ment was complied using a Microsoft Excel spread-
sheet, which became a uniform table that could act
as an index for the creation of drop-site locations in
ArcGIS. The information that was used for the pur-
poses of plot point shapefiles only extends to the
contact information, locations and CSA information
of the farm, questions about farming practices have
been excluded due to non-conformity of the ques-
tions, as shown by the example template in Table 1.
This information was then geo-coded into
ArcGIS, using Milwaukee county and city bound-
aries, neighborhood tracts and major street (TIGRE)
shapefiles. As displayed in Figure 1, there are 31
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The Spatial and Socioeconomic Features of Drop-off Sites for CSA Farms within the Milwaukee Metro Area
points that fall within the Milwaukee Metro Area,
which is divided amongst eleven farm locations.
Symbols have been used to display each farming
operations specific sites, but in further maps the sites
will be shown as a single group in reference to some
socioeconomic factor. CSA sites that have intersec-
tions or approximate addresses have been geo-coded
using as specific measurements as possible. Of the
eleven farms, Pinehold Gardens and Rare Earth
farms have the most drop-off locations within
Milwaukee County, with five sites each.
1. Spatial Features with Race
Using these sites as a single operational compo-
nent of food distribution, the comparison between
White and Black neighborhood census tracts has
been analyzed using 2000 data. In Figure 2, the total
White population is displayed according to number
of total residents identifying as Caucasian only,
where the darker the shade, the higher amount of
residents of this descent. The sites appear to be clus-
tering in those areas that are more heavily shaded,
and potentially indicating that CSA’s are available to
predominantly White tract groups, extending into
larger neighborhood networks and townships, as dis-
played by the three locations boxes, where there is a
high frequency of locations.
In comparison to Figure 3, which shows the total
amount of residents who claim Black only as the
racial makeup; there is a reversal effect, where the
darker colors are now positioned in the center of the
city, in tracts where there is little or no drop-off sites
located. These comparative maps reiterate previous
studies conducted on supermarket accessibility as it
relates to racial demographics of a neighborhood,
with those areas that are predominantly Black hav-
ing less available sites for potential CSA exchange.
In addition to the lack of sites in Black neighbor-
hoods, there appears to be clustering of sites in
White tract areas, allowing residents within these
Mark Caldwell·Woonsup Choi·Chulsue Hwang
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Table 1. Excel farm template
Farmd ID 1
Business Name Backyard Bounty Farms
Contact Info Laura Comerford
Address W 4873 County Rd. Plymouth, WI
Phone Number 920-892-4319
Email [email protected]
Website www.backyardbounty.space.live.com
Produce Vegetable, Eggs, Poultry
CSA Yes
Number of Years 12
Payment Cash, Check, Payment Plan Worker Share
Food Distribution Maryland and Menlo Ave, Milwaukee, WI
Notes Prospect and Locust. Milwaukee, WI
Chase near Oklahoma
66th and Loyola
Farmd ID
Business Name
Contact Info
Address
Phone Number
Website
Produce
CSA
Number of Years
Payment
Food Distribution
Notes
Fig. 1. CSA drop-off sites according to location
areas a wider array of available vendors to chose
from. To conclude the analysis on race, two loca-
tions have been selected on Figure 3 as interest
points because of there unique positions within this
discussion. First, Growing Power, the renowned
urban farm that has been in operations for over
twenty years, is located at 55th and Silver Spring,
within a large tract area of predominately Black resi-
dents. Through the use of there operations, they have
established there own weekly food allotment pro-
gram that may act as an additional source for nutri-
tional and affordable produce within these areas.
Also, Harambee is a neighborhood that has acute
rates of health diseases and income disparities,
which may receive the greatest benefit from the
introduction of nutritional and affordable food
shares.
2. Spatial Distribution with Education
A different way to correlate these drop-off sites
would be to compare educational obtainment of the
given population with these assigned locations.
Figure 4 utilizes census data on the number of
Bachelor degrees in a given tract as a mean guide-
line for measuring educational standards. The darker
the shade, the greater proportion of residents who
have bachelor degrees, showing immediately a lack
of heterogeneous spatial dispersion, with three sig-
nificant CSA cluster sites emerging in those areas
where the shading is darker and therefore a higher
rate of college educated residents. Some stark find-
ings from this analysis are that the same central areas
of the city where higher rates of Black people reside
also have entire neighborhoods consisting of thou-
sands of residents who do not have a college educa-
tion. Interpretations from these results are two-fold:
first that cultural capital in the form of education
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The Spatial and Socioeconomic Features of Drop-off Sites for CSA Farms within the Milwaukee Metro Area
Fig. 2. White populationin relation to CSA sites
Fig. 3. Black population in relation to CSA sites
may play a vital role in shaping the dietary habits of
these college graduates, shifting eating trends
towards local and organic food patterns. As well,
through this relationship, sites will exponentially
grow in these areas because of the extended network
of other educated residents who desire the same
form of localized dieting.
3. Spatial Features with Income
Using information about annual incomes, Figure
5 shows rates of residents who make less than
$10,000. A necessary note, the area near the eastern
cluster of CSA sites, which shows a block of darkly
shaded tracts, and therefore high rates of poor resi-
dents, are actually locations where a large proportion
of students reside, who typically do not earn a full-
time salary, instead pursuing academic careers. The
largest block of residents living below the poverty
line, as indicated by $14,000 or less annually over-
laps with previous maps in that Harambee is a cen-
tral hub for a predominantly Black, less educated
and impoverished citizens. What these maps corre-
lating socioeconomic factors with established CSA
drop sites display is a general picture of the distribu-
tion network of CSA sites in Milwaukee, with those
areas of predominantly White residents who have a
college degree and live above the poverty line have
access to alternate forms of food, which are more
nutritionally beneficial due to organic farming prac-
tices, and more affordable due to decreased shipping
costs. Put another way, those areas such as
Harambee, which already lack access to even basic
food amenities, now have another new food network
formation that is out of there grasps.
4. Spatial Features with Community
To conclude these results, Figure 6 utilizes the tax
exemption key for store front and traditional church-
Mark Caldwell·Woonsup Choi·Chulsue Hwang
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Fig. 4. Rate of bachelor’s degrees in relation to CSA sites Fig. 5. Poverty areas in relation to CSA sites
es in the 2006 Milwaukee Land Parcels shapefile to
locate those that fall within the area where little or no
drop-off sites occur. These organizations may act as
a vital link in establishing CSA locations within
those neighborhood tracts highlighted above. A
potential partnership may be able to be brokered
between the Urban Ecology Center and one of these
churches, where they would act as a weekly hub for
community members to meet and pick-up food
shares.
In addition to these maps, a GoogleMap has been
established as a public tool for use by anyone who is
interested in knowing where a CSA site may be in
there area. This map was modeled after the Land
Stewardship Project’s CSA map, and attempts to
allow greater use of the information that has been
geo-coded in ArcGIS and analyze in Excel.
IV. Limitations and Future Research
There are some immediate issues with the raw
data itself that will require further discussion with
the Coordinator at the Urban Ecology Center.
Information about these fields would be useful for
greater user accessibility and communication
between farmers: exact addresses, contact person for
drop-off sites, weekly pick-up dates, and subsidized
weekly allotment price. As well, some of the ques-
tions are not aligned, so the answers vary from
farmer to farmer.
Second, the research interests of this project
should be expanded into more complex forms of
spatial regression analysis, perhaps using Moran’s I
or Ripley’s K functions to determine more exact
measurements of accessibility according to demo-
graphics. Census data that was used for initial esti-
mates should be updated, utilizing 2008 information
for the most accurate representation of current
socioeconomic trends. Incorporating additional food
sites such as supermarkets and convenience stores
prior to this regression would allow for a more com-
plete understanding of the food availability network
within the Milwaukee metro area.
Third, the creation of this geo-database should be
extended and connected to other projects dealing
with community food security, urban gardens, and
food store accessibility. Through these linked part-
nerships, research in this area can expand in the
capacity to understand and significantly impact the
way that food systems are designed. Despite these
limitations, it has been the attempt of this study to
generate a new geo-database that can act as a foun-
dational platform for future research in the area of
alternative food distribution methods. Using three
socioeconomic input factors: race, education and
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The Spatial and Socioeconomic Features of Drop-off Sites for CSA Farms within the Milwaukee Metro Area
Fig. 6. Potential church locations for drop-off sites
income, an emphasis on the relationship between
these factors and disparities in access to CSA drop
sites is vitally important component to this research.
CSA shares can act as a way to provide affordable
and nutritional food, which doesn’t require the start-
up capital of establishing a new grocery store or
supermarket within a designated area. In this way,
the customer pays less from transit and mark-up
costs and the farmer expands there base of opera-
tions. With the potential support of community orga-
nizations within and outside these areas that have the
social and economic resources to implement such
programs; establishing such a relationship would be
beneficial for all who are involved.
References
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food security: Practice in need of theory?,
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Apparicio, P., Cloutier, M. S., and Shearmur, R.
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Cummins, S. and Macintyre, S. 2006. Food environ-
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8th Annual Local Food and Farmer Open House:
Know your Farmer, Know Your Food.
Report assembled by Jamie Ferschinger,
Community Development Director at the
Urban Ecology Center, 1500 E. Park Place,
Milwaukee, WI 53211.
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29, 2006 by CandiceBNAN, Boston Natural
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접 수 2010년 7월 8일
최종수정 2010년 8월 14일
게재확정 2010년 9월 1일
Mark Caldwell·Woonsup Choi·Chulsue Hwang
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