{"id":7893,"date":"2022-01-26T21:54:29","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T03:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/empowermissouri.org\/?p=7893"},"modified":"2022-01-26T21:54:30","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T03:54:30","slug":"addressing-food-deserts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowermissouri.org\/es\/addressing-food-deserts\/","title":{"rendered":"Addressing Food Deserts & Expanding Food Access Across Missouri"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, the Missouri Senate Economic Development Committee heard <\/span>Senate Bill 790 <\/span><\/a>which would provide state tax credits to grocery stores that open in food deserts across our state. According to USDA, a food desert is <\/span>a low-income tract where a substantial number or substantial share of residents does not have easy access to a supermarket or large grocery store. <\/span>There are about <\/span>100 food deserts throughout the state of Missouri<\/span><\/a>, in both rural and urban areas. The topic of food deserts has been researched and discussed by many policy, nutrition and political experts and there are many differing opinions on how to address them. Tax credits to grocery stores is just one of those possibilities. In Missouri, there has been a long history of using tax credits to encourage job growth,\u00a0 support the economy and invest in communities, thus why creating a tax credit for grocery stores in a food desert is a viable option for our state. Providing <\/span>a tax credit to a grocery store in a food desert will not only provide more access for healthy food for Missourians but it can also help to stimulate the economy, increase the tax base, support farmers and open a gathering place for a community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Besides<\/span> submitting testimony in support of SB 790<\/span><\/a>, Empower Missouri advocates for other ways that have been shown to increase food access and decrease food deserts. They include:<\/span><\/p>\n