Commission focuses on local food access

An idea sparked at the Louisiana Food Access Summit held here last November led to the creation of the Food Access Policy Commission, which met for the first time today. Over the next 10 months, the team will analyze local causes of food deserts—low-income areas with a lack of supermarkets or grocery stores nearby—and develop recommendations on how the city-parish can improve food access. “One mile does not sound like a long way to travel [to get groceries],” Mayor Kip Holden said before the meeting. “But if you have no form of transportation, it is a long way.” The commission was created through a partnership of Together Baton Rouge and the Mayor’s Office, with representatives from the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, LSU and Southern University, Associated Grocers, Wal-Mart and others. Pinpointing several areas of the parish with food access issues, including Scotlandville and Old South Baton Rouge, the commission hopes to identify ways to attract grocery stores as well as encourage convenience and corner stores to carry fresh produce. The commission will meet on the second Thursday of each month this year, with the possibility of continuing beyond 2013. For more information, visit togetherbr.org. —Benjamin Leger