Michelle Obama Announces Project to Fight Food Deserts

Karla, I totally agree with you re: Walmart's labor practices -- as far as I'm concerned, there's no question that they could go a long way toward treating ALL of their employees better.

But as Adrienne said, it's the big corporate stores that have the resources to expand into these areas, and using that corporate model means there might actually be some success to this project. I live in Oakland, and the portion of my city called West Oakland has been a food desert for years -- at one point, it had more than 50 liquor stores and not a single grocery store in the entire neighborhood (which is large and includes a great deal of low-income housing). That is starting to change, and some of that change is happening due to the extended and concerted effort of local folks, but there are groups who have been working in that area for years to no success, even though they are local and know the neighborhood and treat their employees well!

I will *always* choose the local small business over the big box stores when given the opportunity, especially when it comes to food. But if the quickest and easiest option to get fresh, healthy food to people who are currently forced to go without requires a corporate model, I'm willing to support that. This initiative may very well be the game changer many parts of this country have long been waiting for.

--- Genie, The Inadvertent Gardener ( http://www.theinadvertentgardener.com )

I'm not the biggest fan of Walmart despite living in Tennessee and try to avoid it.

However, due to economies of scale, the corporate stores are likely to be the most capable of expanding in to food deserts, which are typically urban areas.

Walmart has a program to use locally-grown produce ( http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/business/15walma... ) where available.

Walmart has done some good. Because of this retail giant, almost all milk sold in grocery stores does not contain growth hormones. When Walmart decided to ban it, it forced the dairy industry to change their practices. When Walmart does embrace a good change, it basically forces the entire system to change.

There's also the issue of prices. Most food deserts are located in low-income and high-crime areas. It's a nice utopian ideal to have farmer's markets and local grocery stores fill those needs, but those venues lack the economies of scale to offer lower prices. Can a person on SNAP benefits afford to shop at a local equivalent of Whole Foods? Most likely no.

These stores are also better equipped to deal with the increased security needed at urban locations.

Adrienne works in the conservative movement and blogs at Cosmopolitan Conservative ( http://www.cosmopolitanconservative.com )and ( http://www.cosmopolitanconservative.com )Adrienne Loves. ( http://www.adrienneloves.com )

I do not doubt that these food deserts exist, but question the partners the First Lady is involving in this project. Wal-mart, really? There aren't any local people we could support instead that treat their employees (especially their female employees) better?

Karla blogs at Simple Living Family (http:\\www.simplelivingfamily.com)