Healthy food options present challenge for Oktibbeha County
In a state leading in categories such as childhood obesity and heart disease rates, access to healthy produce and food options can be a challenge for many in Mississippi.
Starkville proves no exception, with only a limited number of locations providing a wide-range of nutritional options. The city offers a few grocery stores, various discount dollar stores and a community market, but for those in outlying areas outside the city limits, it can be trying to make the most of these opportunities.
Starkville has also become one of the closest outlets to buy affordable healthy food options for some neighboring towns in Oktibbeha County. Residents of nearby towns, however, may choose to not travel at times, leaving them to shop at quick convenience stores that do not offer a variety of nutritional options.
In Starkville, there are three big box supermarkets and eight discount dollar stores. The three supermarkets - Walmart, Kroger and Vowell's Market Place - are all within a couple miles of each other on one of the busiest stretches of highway in the Golden Triangle.
The distance from Walmart to Kroger is .7 miles, from Walmart to Vowell's it's 2.2 miles and from Kroger to Vowell's it's 1.7 miles. While those along this particular stretch of Highway 12 may have multiple options readily available to them, many are not so fortunate.
The United States Department of Agriculture defines a food desert “as parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas.”
According to the USDA website, food deserts are created when an area lacks grocery stores, farmers' markets, and healthy food providers.
In the neighboring town of Sturgis, there are no supermarkets available to the residents, only a convenience store.
Sturgis Mayor Billy Blankenship told the SDN many residents travel outside of the town in order to expand their food options.
“A lot of people go to Ackerman because it's closer to us than Starkville, but people will usually go to either Ackerman or Starkville (to grocery shop),” Blankenship said.
Sturgis is 15.7 miles from Starkville and 9.5 miles from Ackerman, which can prove a difficult distance for many on limited incomes to travel.
Blankenship said Sturgis does not have a farmers market at this time, but the topic has been brought up on the town hall page concerning who would be interested in a farmers market.
“We had a whole lot of interest (in a farmers market), but we never could get any vendors to reply to us,” Blankenship said. “It's something that's wanted, but we just haven't been able to put anything together because we don't have the supplies for it.”
Blankenship said there are many residents that have their own gardens, but he would like to see healthier food options be made available to the Sturgis community without having to travel to other areas.
Maben residents also have limited options when it comes to purchasing groceries.
Maben Mayor Larry Pruitt told the SDN Maben only has the General Store, which lacks a variety of fresh produce for the residents.
“A lot of people commute to their jobs in different places like Starkville and go to Walmart or Kroger (to buy groceries),” Pruitt said. “We have a Piggly Wiggly two or three miles from us in Mathinson and then there are some Grocery Lions in Eupora.”
While Maben is 18.7 miles from Starkville, residents often opt to travel 11 miles to Eupora or a shorter distance of roughly 3 miles to shop in Mathinson.
Pruitt said Maben tries to offer a farmer's market in the summer, but because of a bad season last year they did not have one this year.
In lieu of the farmers market, Pruitt said many residents tend to their own gardens for fresh produce during the season. However, for the community members that do not have a garden, healthier food options is a commodity they have to travel for.
Starkville offers a Community Market during the summer on Tuesdays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., but the market is only available April through October. Saturday morning market ends in August and Tuesday's ends in October and getting to the market is not always an easy task for residents who don't live close to Main Street.
Based on a 2015 USDA food desert locator map that showed the low-income and low-access tract for Starkville, a relatively high number of households live more than one-half mile from a supermarket and do not have a car. In order to qualify as a low-access community, at least 500 people or 33 percent of the census tract's population must live more than one mile from a supermarket or in rural areas more than 10 miles.
The Greater Starkville Development Partner-
ship's Director of Membership Development Heath Barret told the SDN he hopes local residents who have no means of transportation take advantage of Starkville's S.M.A.R.T. buses in order to get to the local farmers market on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill told the SDN there are various vendors throughout Starkville selling off of the back of their trucks, along with the community market.
"There are a number of locations around town where people have home-grown or locally-grown produce that has been made available to them," Spruill said.
Barret said the market supports farmers participating in SNAP and WIC's Farmers Market Nutrition Plan (FMNP) each year, but only farmers that have registered with the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce are allowed to accept vouchers or EBT cards.
Instead of making the trek to big box grocery stores, community members may find themselves choosing to buy groceries at a local convenience store closer to their residence.
Within Starkville city limits there are five Dollar Generals, one Family Dollar, one Dollar Tree, one Fred's Pharmacy and more than ten different gas stations.
Although discount dollar stores offer customers convenience and lower prices than big box supermarkets, the ability to purchase fresh produce may not be an option to its customers. Instead, patrons can only buy frozen foods high in sodium.
Based of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Data (BRFSS), Mississippi has the second highest adult obesity rate, the highest obesity rate among children 10 to 17 years old, the highest rate for high blood pressure and the highest rate for diabetes in the country.
When the community market closes in August and October, residents have to revert back to going to supermarkets to purchase healthier foods.
Using the S.M.A.R.T bus can be a solution for some, but not for those with large families who need to buy a week or two week's worth of groceries at a time.
S.M.A.R.T. Bus Transit Manager Larry Graves told the SDN only three bus routes out of the five Starkville routes travel to the supermarkets: Boardtown North, Boardtown South and Highway 12.
Graves said there are two buses on Boardtown North and one bus for Boardtown South and Highway 12 per shift.
Graves said there are many people that use the S.M.A.R.T bus to do their grocery shopping, but it can be difficult when a person tries to carry too much at one time.
“I've had one instance where an older gentlemen shopped at Vowell's and it took him a few trips to get home,” Graves said. “There's just not a real good stowaway place on the bus for multiple bags, but he got on and he rode.”
The Boardtown North bus route transports patrons to both Walmart and Vowell's, while the Boardtown South and Highway 12 bus routes goes to Walmart, Kroger and Vowell's.
“No route takes much more than about 20 minutes to go all the way from one end to the other,” Graves said.
Graves said the S.M.A.R.T. bus tracking system is currently being updated to become more accurate so community members will have a better awareness of where each bus is.
S.M.A.R.T. buses operate Monday through Saturday and begin their route at 7 a.m. and lasting until 8 p.m.
Spruill told the SDN she was and has been relying on the S.M.A.R.T. bus system to fill the need for transportation to and from supermarkets and other places around town. She said there may be few areas that the bus might not be traveling through, but she doesn't believe that transportation to grocery stores is the problem.
"If it was anything, it would not be the accessibility to grocery stores," Spruill said, "It would be more the locally-grown food options that might be not quite as extensive, but I think we're working on that through our community market and through the vendors that are setting up in various areas of town."
Houston, Mississippi native David Vance, 74, told the SDN he has been selling fresh produce out of his truck in Starkville for around 12 years.
Vance typically sets up to sell produce on Highway 12 just past Louisville Street.
"I try to be here Tuesday through Friday and up until this year I made around two or three trips a week," Vance said. "I had to have stints put in eight weeks ago and the doctor told me not to even do it, but I'm still here."
Vance sells watermelons, black diamond sugar watermelons, seedless watermelons, peaches and cantaloupe all of which he gets from south Georgia farmers that his youngest son introduced him to.
"I get (the fresh produce) right off the farm," Vance said. Vance said around 97 percent of his business is repeat customers, most of whom have his phone number and when he is not there they call and ask when he is coming.
Last Tuesday, Vance said he sold 152 watermelons, 100 cantaloupes and two or three bushels of peaches between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
"I credit it to being a good product," Vance said. "I don't handle anything that's not fresh out of the field."
Spruill also mentioned the up-coming Walmart Neighborhood Market that will be opening near the Garrard Road intersection of Highway 12 East.
"The product I have seen in this new type of Walmart grocery stores is very nice," Spruill said. "So (the new Walmart Neighborhood Market) is another option for residents who are closer to the university and on the eastern side of town."