Rural Britain is becoming ‘food desert’ for lower-income families, study finds

Rural Britain is becoming a “food desert” for lower-income families as the closure of local shops and poor public transport leaves them at disproportionately high risk of hunger and cost of living pressures, new research shows. Over half of households with an annual income of under £40,000 a year living in the countryside struggle to access affordable and healthy food including fresh fruit and vegetables, the Sheffield University study estimates. It identifies a stark city-country divide, with families in relatively affluent rural areas at significantly higher risk of food insecurity than similar households in deprived urban neighbourhoods with high levels of poverty. While just 7% of lower-income households in deprived urban neighbourhoods lived more than 20 minutes’ walk from the nearest shop selling fresh fruit and vegetables, this rose to 52.5% for households with identical incomes in rural areas. Food insecurity is defined as poor access to nutritious food caused by lack of money or nearby shops, leading to meal-skipping and poor diet. About one in eight UK households were estimated in February to have experienced food insecurity . More than half of lower-income households in rural areas live more than 20 minutes from the nearest shop selling fresh fruit and vegetables. …