GREENSBORO — After nearly two years of planning, the Mobile Oasis Produce Market finally will be on the move starting Wednesday, bringing fresh produce to areas of the city that have so few food options they’re known as “food deserts.”
The mobile market project, a collaboration between the city of Greensboro and Guilford County Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Division, is tackling a problem that has been silently growing for decades.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines a food desert as any census tract where at least 33 percent of the population lives at least a mile from a supermarket and more than 20 percent live below the poverty level.
Guilford County has 24 such tracts, according to a 2013 report from the agriculture department — 17 in Greensboro and seven in High Point. More than a quarter of all Greensboro residents and 19 percent of county residents live in food deserts.
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“The problem is much larger in our area than most people realize,” said Janet Mayer, health educator with the public health division. “The mobile market is one step to begin to try to address it.”
The market is a simple idea — essentially a large trailer pulled by a Ford F-150 truck. Working from the example of similar programs in places like Durham and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the market will set up shop in under served parts of the city and sell fresh local produce. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, more commonly known as food stamps, will be accepted.
“We’re going to start with fall crops,” Mayer said. “Sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, green cabbage, turnip greens, collard greens, bell peppers, swiss chard and kale.”
This fall’s stops will be part of a pilot program. The market will operate every Wednesday, starting this week, through Nov. 26 at both the Guilford County Department of Social Services Building, 1203 Maple St. in Greensboro, and Warnersville Community Recreation Center, 601 Doak St.
“During this pilot part of the project the cost of the food will be subsidized,” Mayer said. “Once the grant funds run out, that would have to change. We hope to keep the prices comparable to grocery stores and affordable.”
Other funding and operational partners in the market include Vision Tree Community Development Corporation, the Greensboro Farmers Market, the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, UNCG, and the United Way of Greater Greensboro. Funding for the project was provided by the Kathleen and Joseph Bryan Community Enrichment and Venture Grant received by Guilford County and a Health Eating Equipment Grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation received by the Parks and Recreation Department.
Phil Fleischermann, community recreation services division manger for the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department, said that from conception to launch, it’s been a full community effort.
“Everyone has been committed to work together, all of our community partners, to address food access issues here in Guilford County,” Fleischermann said.