What Happens When You're Living in a Food Desert?

Pam Farrell, a second-year student in the Online Master’s in Education Leadership (OEL) Program, never expected to open a grocery store. 

But when she started learning about food insecurity and food deserts a few years ago while getting her doctorate at the University of Calgary and teaching in her community in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, she realized not having access to healthy food due to financial constraints hit close to home.

"We were living on a farm at that time, so we were growing our own food," she says. “We had chickens, we had sheep, and I became more aware of the food systems around us. And what I noticed in our local schools, and this is very essentializing, is that we have the 'have' and the 'have nots.'" Some kids’ lunches were packed with healthier food; some were packed with processed food. In part, the lunch boxes reflected an economic issue, she started realizing, but also one of access. 

"In our low-income neighborhoods, we don’t have access to affordable grocery stores and people are forced to go to the corner shop or the dollar store to buy food," she says. "There are not healthy options, and fresh produce is often not within reach." While food banks can be a good short-term option, it's not always ideal. Transportation can be a barrier, and some people feel uncomfortable with asking for help. 

"One of the stats that really kind of shocked me out of my little bubble was that only one in four people that are food insecure will actually access a food bank," she says. "It's the dignity aspect and the choices are very limited in those places. They're really not the answer to food insecurity." 

With this in mind, Farrell decided to open a nonprofit, low-cost grocery store and charity in her town called Grow Community Food Literacy Centre. Meant to be more of a wellness center than a food bank, the store is open to low-income members of the community and focuses on fresh produce, dairy, meats, and other proteins, as well as healthier pantry staples — food that is often too expensive to buy in traditional supermarkets. Farrell’s store buys in bulk from a food terminal in Toronto where farmers bring their goods, and tailors the store’s stock based on community input. Goods are sold at wholesale, significantly lower than supermarket or bodega prices. 

They space is also used as a community kitchen, offering opportunities for members to cook and share food with one another while building community and breaking down social isolation. Children who visit learn about healthy food options and participate in choosing the food their families buy.

The charity is growing, Farrell says. Recently, they doubled their space and started a mobile truck program called Grow-on-the-Go that visits high-needs neighborhoods, senior housing, and areas where post-secondary students tend to live, offering primarily produce at low-cost.

"With the mobile market, we’re going into additional neighborhoods identified with our partners at public health as low-income food deserts," she says. "One of the things that just irks me is to ask for proof of low income. With the mobile market, we don't have to do low-income verifications like we do in the store because we're already in a designated low-income area. It's a little bit more dignified." 

With her team, Farrell, who grew up in Zurich, has raised $2.1 million in funding and grants and has reached more than 100,000 points of service. This impact is why she was recently named one of Canada’s top 100 most powerful women by the Women’s Executive Network (WXN). 

"It's because I started something that came out of research that does not just sit on a shelf or in an academic paper," she says, "but that's actually made a real impact in the community that we serve and hopefully also inspires beyond our immediate community."

That sense of leading, and wanting to become an even better leader, is why Farrell decided to go back to school to earn her master’s, despite already having a doctorate and being an assistant professor at the University of Calgary, where she oversees the field education program. 

"I'm a person that’s truly committed to lifelong learning. I feel the more I know, the less I know," she says. "And to be honest, the program at HGSE is so unique. I don’t think I would've done just any master's in educational leadership, but the caliber of professors and scholars that teach at HGSE and the global cohort that I’m in adds just so much. Everything is high caliber. Everything is unparallel to any other experiences that I've had. I joke with my husband; this is a program on steroids."