Campaign for Healthier Solutions
Local Food Solutions
Across the United States, communities of color, low-income neighborhoods, and Indigenous peoples endure disproportionate exposure to toxic chemicals and pollution that harms their health. Many of these communities also lack access to healthy foods. These combined impacts contribute to higher rates of chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease.
With the COVID-19 health and economic crisis now upon us, food security is a growing concern for people in this country. Millions of people, particularly the disproportionately impacted, rely on dollar stores for food and other household needs, even though dollar store products are often filled with toxic chemicals. Roughly 75 percent of people in the US live within five miles of a Dollar General store, for example, and the discount chain recently became one of the top 25 food retailers in the nation.
For these reasons, our coalition of community leaders, public health experts, and environmental and economic justice advocates are encouraging Dollar General to sell locally-grown fruits and vegetables at four stores in low-food access neighborhoods in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This would be an opportunity for Dollar General to build its business, improve access to healthy foods in disproportionately impacted communities, and bolster the local economy by supporting area farmers. Our goal: to demonstrate that a sustainable, local procurement policy is possible, profitable, and replicable for commercial adoption by Dollar General’s more than 16,000 stores across 44 states.
A pending collaboration between Dollar General and local food producers, supported by anchor institutions in the community and other project partners (see list below), would reflect a commitment to building community health and improving food access. Together we can demonstrate how retailers, healthcare institutions, community groups, and local food producers can advance public health, equity and economic benefits by increasing access to healthy, affordable food.
The benefits of sustainably produced, local food include: fresher, more nutrient-dense options for consumers; less opportunity for contamination from pesticides and other harmful chemicals; support for the local economy; and improved community health and resilience. Purchasing produce from local farmers also improves quality by shortening the supply chain, reducing environmental and climate impacts caused by long-distance transport.
What’s more, demand is increasing around the country for locally-grown, healthy foods. Research demonstrates the majority of consumers across the income spectrum, including food stamp recipients, value local foods and are willing to pay more for them. With local food buying on the rise a successful collaboration with Dollar General in New Mexico would be a positive and exciting model for replication and commercial adoption in other regions.
Related News
Campaign Pushes Local Food & Safe Products at Dollar General
July 17, 2023
Since 2019, the Local Food Solutions project has been asking Dollar General to offer healthy, local food options in its stores, starting with four stores in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The South Valley of Albuquerque is the base of operations for the Agri-Cultura Network, a community-based and farmer-led cooperative that works to provide access to local and sustainably grown produce and spur local economic development. Agri-Cultura Network and its network of more than 70 farms and ranches use traditional and innovative agricultural practices to improve environmental and community stewardship and strengthen the agrarian and cultural heritage of their land and its residents. Local Food Solutions is offering a path forward for Dollar General to provide highly desirable, local food to its customers, and in doing so, reinvest in the communities where its stores operate.
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Battle lines being draw as Farm Bill looms
April 17, 2023
Some environmental advocates are pushing for more support for small farms that practice regenerative agriculture, said Jessica Swan, the community outreach organizer for the Agri-Cultura Network, a farmer cooperative in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She and her colleagues want the new Farm Bill to include new rules that not only cut chemically intensive farming practices nationwide and protect workers from pesticide-related illnesses, but also make farmer conservation programs more accessible to people who own small or urban farms. They also want to see crop insurance and commodity programs reward more farmers for organic and regenerative practices. In a letter to House Agriculture Committee Chairman David Scott, Agri-Cultura and 49 other food and agriculture organizations called for these measures and also called on Congress to block funds that support large, polluting animal agriculture operations.
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Coming Clean lobbies for a Farm Bill that centers human health by reducing reliance on toxic chemicals
March 23, 2023
Today, Coming Clean hosted a lobby day for members to meet with Congressional leaders to urge them to prioritize community food sovereignty and farmworker protections in the upcoming farm bill reauthorization, while incentivizing reductions in pesticide use. Members from across the country, including small farmers and farmworkers, scheduled visits throughout the day with lawmakers from their districts to highlight reforms that are most important to them and their communities.
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South Valley farmers working to improve sustainable practices
December 21, 2021
South Valley community members say they’re working to improve farming sustainability in the middle of New Mexico’s ongoing drought. Federal officials met on Friday in the South Valley to talk about how to use infrastructure money to tackle the drought in the state. Read More
Dollar stores offer bargain prices - and toxic products.
April 6, 2021
When dollar stores sell products containing toxic chemicals, that expose only adds to the multiple sources of toxic pollution felt in communities like Mossville, LA, and other communities of color and low-income communities where chemical hazards and pollution are concentrated. These communities - which often must rely on dollar stores - need more action from these chains. Read More