FoodDesertFarmington

26 FEBRUARY 2020 - FARMINGTON, MINNESOTA: ALIA TOBIN, right, and MARY SUE BRIGGS, both from Farmington, volunteers at the community dinner at Faith Church, work in the kitchen before the dinner. Faith Church is a United Methodist Church in Farmington, MN, about 30 minutes south of the Twin Cities. The dinner is sponsored by Loaves & Fishes, a Christian organization that provides food for community dinners and foodbanks. Farmington, with a population of 21,000, is a farming community that has become a Twin Cities suburb. The city lost its only grocery store, a Family Fresh Market, in December, 2019. The closing turned the town into a "food desert." In January, Faith Church started serving the weekly meals as a response to the store's closing. About 125 people per week attend the meal at the church, which is just a few blocks from the closed grocery store. The USDA defines food deserts as having at least 33% or 500 people of a census tract's population in an urban area living 1 mile from a large grocery store or supermarket. Grocery chains Hy-Vee and Aldi both own land in Farmington but they have not said when they plan to build or open stores in the town. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ

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Contained in galleries: Upper Midwest of the US

26 FEBRUARY 2020 - FARMINGTON, MINNESOTA: ALIA TOBIN, right, and MARY SUE BRIGGS, both from Farmington, volunteers at the community dinner at Faith Church, work in the kitchen before the dinner. Faith Church is a United Methodist Church in Farmington, MN, about 30 minutes south of the Twin Cities. The dinner is sponsored by Loaves & Fishes, a Christian organization that provides food for community dinners and foodbanks. Farmington, with a population of 21,000, is a farming community that has become a Twin Cities suburb. The city lost its only grocery store, a Family Fresh Market, in December, 2019. The closing turned the town into a "food desert." In January, Faith Church started serving the weekly meals as a response to the store's closing. About 125 people per week attend the meal at the church, which is just a few blocks from the closed grocery store. The USDA defines food deserts as having at least 33% or 500 people of a census tract's population in an urban area living 1 mile from a large grocery store or supermarket. Grocery chains Hy-Vee and Aldi both own land in Farmington but they have not said when they plan to build or open stores in the town. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ