Food deserts remain an issue in North Dakota, but efforts are ongoing to fight them
Dec. 9—GRAND FORKS — In 2019, 100% of North Dakota's Golden Valley County, Billings County and Nelson County residents lived 10 miles or more from a fresh-food grocery. Throughout the state, 45% of rural residents live in a food desert.
Dawn Mandt, executive director of the Red River Regional Council, said it's an issue that's been growing over the last two to three decades. In North Dakota, for instance, Mandt said there are 34 counties that have low access to grocery stores — five times more than other rural areas nationally.
The issue, she believes, could lead to people seeking easier-to-access but more unhealthy foods, or spending time and money driving long distances to find fresh food.
Emma Cook, the community development liaison for the North Dakota Department of Commerce, said grocery stores are an essential service that help grow communities. They are a piece of workforce attraction and retention, and a town being without one will deter people from moving there, further shrinking already small towns.
"It's kind of a growing phenomenon to be in an agricultural state and realizing that we're one of the leading states across the country in experiencing food deserts," Mandt said. "There are certain ironies in all of that, right?"
A food desert is defined by the United States Department of Agriculture as an area with low access to healthy foods. In its definition, convenience stores and dollar stores that stock milk and a few fresh items don't qualify as grocery stores.
In an interactive map of the state distributed to lawmakers during the drafting of Senate Bill 2273 — legislation that resulted in a new rural food sustainability grant through the North Dakota Department of Commerce — statistics show each county's population and the percentage of residents who lived 10 miles or more from a fresh-food grocery, as of 2019.
A number of North Dakota counties are at 50% or higher, including:
* Billings (839): 100%
* Golden Valley (1,812): 100%
* Nelson (3,035): 100%
* Hettinger (2,502): 99.9%
* Kidder (2,397): 99.6%
* Slope (775): 95.2%
* Burke (2,177): 92%
* Steele (1,870): 88%
* Oliver (1,850): 84%
* Sheridan (1,328): 81.5%
* McHenry (5,420): 69%
* Renville (2,328): 58.9%
* McLean (9,788): 55%
* Dunn (4,054): 53%
* Grant (2,351): 52.3%
Mandt said North Dakota's food deserts exist due in part to the state's rural, sparsely populated landscape. With fewer people to serve, grocery stores don't exist, or the ones that do remain sometimes order at a smaller scale, which increases expenses. It increases costs at the local level, prompting some residents to travel for cheaper items. This in turn chips away at the local store's cash flow and profits. Some eventually close, further reducing access.
For those who live in food deserts, that means having to travel farther for their basic grocery needs, or simply bypassing healthier foods. In North Dakota's Region Four (Grand Forks, Pembina, Walsh and Nelson counties) — with 25% of rural residents being 65 or older — this can be a challenge. Older residents may have issues with mobility and might have difficulty traveling those distances.
While convenience stores or dollar stores have "grab and go" food available, Mandt said these food items aren't as healthy as what can be bought at a grocery store.
In 2019
, a Forum News Service report noted that $57 million in North Dakota's medical expenses every year can be credited to food insecurity.
There are efforts being made to diminish food deserts. The rural food sustainability grant, created through the work of Senate Bill 2273, is one of them.
The grant program is made of two components.
The first gives awards to eligible entities for feasibility studies to look into how viable potential projects or initiatives will be for increasing rural food accessibility and sustainability. The second awards grant dollars to support these projects' creation or the expansion of already existing projects that have developed profit-loss statements and other materials to show sustainability.
The timeline for component one began on Sept. 8, with applications opening. They closed on Oct. 13 and were awarded Oct. 24. The recipients were the city of Milnor, Pembina County JDA, DBA Strengthen ND, the city of Butte, Hazelton Development Corporation and city of Casselton. Applications for component two open Jan. 15.
Cook, the Department of Commerce's community development liaison, said the recipients are going through feasibility studies, looking at the current state of food accessibility and the driving factors behind what makes a food desert. After that, they'll go through a planning process for how to diminish those deserts.
"We're hoping to find some of those best practices ... that we can share across the state and hopefully go back to the Legislature and get more funding for this program and make it more sustainable so we can reach more communities," Cook said.
One of those practices, which inspired Senate Bill 2273, is a partnership between three grocery stores in Walsh County to ensure the area has fresh food.
The North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives created the
Rural Access Distribution Cooperative
, which began distributing food to grocery stores and schools in Walsh County in November 2021. The co-op works as a partnership of businesses and communities in Park River, Hoople, Edinburg, Fordville and other nearby areas. Jim's Supervalu in Park River, Hoople Grocery in Hoople and the Market on Main in Edinburg order groceries as a collective; the products are then delivered to Park River and split up to be delivered to the other two groceries with the RAD Co-op's delivery truck.
Mandt also mentioned two other efforts by the RRRC to assist Region Four.
One is a regional food incubator and a shared-use kitchen to grow the small food businesses in downtown Grafton, which has already secured more than $2 million in funding. However, there is a lack of contractors interested in bidding, Mandt said. The other is a partnership among North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota, called the Regional Food Business Center. The Center is a five-year initiative with the mission to boost the Upper Midwest's regional food systems.
To Mandt, fighting food deserts isn't just about dealing with food insecurity, but helping to replenish something that draws communities together.
"I also see food as a great community unifier, bringing people together," she said.
Following are all North Dakota counties, along with population and the percentage of residents in those counties who lived 10 miles or more from a fresh-food grocery in 2019:
* Billings (839): 100%
* Golden Valley (1,812): 100%
* Nelson (3,035): 100%
* Hettinger (2,502): 99.9%
* Kidder (2,397): 99.6%
* Slope (775): 95.2%
* Burke (2,177): 92%
* Steele (1,870): 88%
* Oliver (1,850): 84%
* Sheridan (1,328): 81.5%
* McHenry (5,420): 69%
* Renville (2,328): 58.9%
* McLean (9,788): 55%
* Dunn (4,054): 53%
* Grant (2,351): 52.3%
* Pembina (6,912): 46.2%
* Bottineau (6,442): 45.7%
* Emmons (3,316): 44.5%
* Benson (6,090): 42.7%
* Logan (1,814): 41.9%
* Sioux (3,993): 40.9%
* Richland (16,546): 40.2%
* Wells (4,031): 37.9%
* LaMoure (4,173): 37.2%
* McKenzie (13,762): 36.9%
* Cavalier (3,725): 36.4%
* Towner (2,190): 34.8%
* Divide (2,196): 33.3%
* Ward (69,686): 33.3%
* Stutsman (21,678): 33%
* Griggs (2,242): 32.8%
* Morton (32,916): 29.9%
* Bowman (3,024): 29.8%
* Eddy (2,378): 28.9%
* Barnes (10,869): 28%
* Adams (2,237): 22.3%
* Burleigh (97,895): 21.9%
* Sargent (3,839): 21.9%
* Williams (38,460): 21%
* Grand Forks (73,101): 20.6%
* Mcintosh (2,568): 19.9%
* Pierce (4,038): 19.3%
* Mercer (8,405): 18.6%
* Walsh (1,631): 18.4%
* Foster (3,396): 18%
* Traill (8,008): 18%
* Stark (32,710): 16.9%
* Ramsey (11,638): 16.6%
* Ransom (5,679): 16.2%
* Cass (182,992): 13.9%
* Mountrail (9,717): 13%
* Dickey (5,013): 12.7%
* Rolette (12,508): 9.3%
