USPS Could Tackle Food Insecurity

New Jersey looks for those solutions being implemented successfully in other regions around the country to fight hunger in food deserts and poor neighborhoods, assessing what can be replicated in their local communities to address these issues.

In many rural communities in India, access to clean drinking water is still scarce. The cost of bottled water is prohibitive, city pipes are in poor condition, and the municipal tanker trucks that supply some water are haphazard. But a social business called Sarvajal is busy scaling up a solution: a water ATM. These machines allow people to scan a pre-paid card and withdraw purified water from a stable, convenient source within their community when needed.

The commercially-based Wind for Prosperity initiative may have devised a solution to meet growing demands for electricity in developing economies, where fossil fuels are expensive, difficult to access, and take a toll on environmental and human health. The venture works to refurbish wind turbines from Europe and re-deploy them in the developing world, providing clean and affordable power where it’s needed most.

Finding alternatives for uneaten or imperfect food reduces waste. In Denver, multiple initiatives, ranging from the city’s Certifiably Green Denver program to tech startups and nonprofits, are working to tackle the problem of excess and wasted food. The nonprofit organization, We Don’t Waste, redistributes unused food from large venues at food banks and farmers markets. The tech startup, FoodMaven, similarly aims to reroute food from the landfill to consumers.

A nonprofit grocery store in Washington, D.C. brings fresh, affordable food to regional food deserts. Through community engagement, public partnerships, and the willingness to learn from failure, Good Food Markets brings small grocery stores into communities that need them most.

The ProMedica Toledo Hospital increases access to healthy food for low-income families through a novel kind of pharmacy. Patients receive free produce, recipes, and guidance from a dietician on how to treat and prevent diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure while improving eating habits. The food pharmacy serves over 800 people per month, and patients feel better mentally and physically.

At the Fujitsu factory in Japan, a significant decline in demand for semiconductor computer chips meant the company had large empty factory space sitting unused. A new business approach allowed them to dually address both the need to evolve their business model with a global decline of viable agricultural space needed to grow the world's food. Now, the factory houses indoor vegetable gardens, soil free and less resource-heavy than traditional farmland.

Brown's Super Stores operates seven profitable supermarkets in traditionally food desert neighborhoods in Philadelphia. The founder says it's because they brought together a group of community leaders and asked them exactly what they were looking for in a neighborhood grocery store, and used the information to truly create a space for the broader community that often includes health care clinics, banking services, event space, and more.

Kitovu Technology is a social enterprise that aims to use data and technology to help farmers in Nigeria increase their crop yields and access new markets. Since 2017, the company has trained over 300 agents to work with about 12,000 farmers on using the mobile app to track their progress. The company also partnered with the government on a pilot program to introduce an electronic warehouse system to allow farmers to store their grains.

A startup in California called Crop Swap LA is converting unused front yards into community gardens that can grow crops like kale, rainbow chard, and tomatoes as a way to feed neighbors. Community members can pay for subscriptions for up to $43 a month to receive a bundle of greens and vegetables from the microfarms and homeowners get a share of the profits. Each garden needs to have the proper maintenance, which can make it difficult to scale, but these gardens can help provide access to food to those who don’t have a grocery store in their area.