"Indian Country Food Price Index" Shows Generally Higher Costs

Earlier in July, First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) – as part of its work to combat food insecurity, eliminate “food deserts” in Native American communities, and support economic and business development – released a new report that finds Native consumers in or near reservation communities generally have to spend more on food products than the national average, despite the fact that incomes are usually much lower in these communities while food access is, largely, much more difficult due to distance and transportation issues.

The report, titled Indian Country Food Price Index: Exploring Variation in Food Pricing Across Native Communities, is referred to as a working paper because First Nations plans to lengthen the time frame and broaden the scope of the price-sampling activities over the next year.

“Most American Indian reservations are located in what the U.S. Agriculture Department calls ‘food deserts’ where access to retail outlets and fresh and healthy foods is difficult,” noted A-dae Romero-Briones, First Nations’ Associate Director of Research & Policy for Native Agriculture. “Naturally, that is a result of many factors including rurality, lack of sufficient demand to support retail outlets, and trends in national food-distribution systems that favor large or urban retail outlets. Plus, in many Native communities, historical government policies aimed to disrupt, alter and even eliminate local food production that once sustained Native communities, resulting in increased dependency on new food and retail systems.”

http://indiangiver.firstnations.org/nl160708-05/