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South Florida looking south — it doesn't necessarily look like a food desert, but from here it's 1.5 miles or more to the nearest grocery store. | Kayla Borg, LkldNow
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Even in the morning, temperatures hover in the 80s and the roads are busy and dangerous in many parts of Lakeland, especially around South Florida Avenue.
I’m in Dixieland, on foot, near Cresap Street.
I have $20 and I want to get some groceries.
I cross a busy intersection to get to a 7-11: Chips, pizza rolls, cakes, beef jerky sticks. A few pre-packed fruit-and-cheese options.
The closest big-name grocery store is Publix at Southgate, but that’s a mile and a half behind me.
I walk another mile, past other businesses, a bakery, a coffee shop. Still no real grocery stores. It’s hot.
On my phone’s map, I find a nearby grocery store. I drive there, led to an unmarked area of the RP Funding Center.
It’s a catering office.
What are food deserts?: Tens of thousands of Polk County residents live in areas with limited access to affordable, nutritious food. They’re known as food deserts, and they’re closer than you think.
According to Rod Crowley at United Way of Central Florida, their organization’s food distributions across 17 sites serve residents from all over: veterans, working parents — and people driving 30 miles to get food.
A food desert isn’t just a place without supermarkets, it’s where your location makes it hard to find fresh food at all, especially without a car. In Polk County, it can mean dinner from a gas station, walking miles in the heat to mislabeled “grocery stores” and still stretching $20.
The USDA produced a heat map of U.S. food deserts. Zoom in on Lakeland and you’ll see how many neighborhoods are affected. It hasn’t been updated since 2019.
Lakeland is growing. “The more our population increases,” Crowley said, “the more people we’ll have in need of food.”
Frank Lloyd Wright Way and South Florida Avenue — there are several nearby convenience stores but it’s still a food desert.
What are the impacts?: The Food Empowerment Project says food deserts affect low-income white families as well as Black, Latino and Native communities. The last three groups are more likely to:
Live in food deserts
Have fewer supermarkets and more fast food or convenience stores
Struggle with language, cultural and dietary limitations
Suffer disproportionately high rates of diet-related illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and even some cancers — conditions linked to poor food access, according to the NIH.
What’s a solution?: One idea that Rod Crowley at United Way says is under consideration: creating hyper-local food hubs with hydroponic greenhouses that grow and distribute produce in a neighborhood.
They’re indoor growing systems that use nutrient-rich water instead of soil. They’ve been introduced in some U.S. cities as a year-round, space-saving solution to food insecurity.
These vertical farms can produce high yields with minimal resources, giving low-income communities more control over local food access, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
Cities where hydroponic farming is being implemented so far include Boston and Huntsville and Birmingham, Alabama.
“We’re exploring models outside Central Florida,” Crowley said, “and trying to share best practices through Polk Vision’s Food Security Council.”
What’s another solution? Mass transit: Polk County’s Citrus Connection operates the Peach bus line, for example, which serves this area of South Florida Avenue and connects residents to key destinations like the Southgate Publix. Most of the stops are unsheltered.
How does it feel?: As I trekked back to my car, in Dixieland, hungry, nursing a headache, I thought about the people in the area who just needed a meal.
I was heading to meet someone for lunch, which I’d always taken for granted.
Now I felt lucky.
Insight Polk examines community conditions and solutions in six target areas from UCIndicators.org: economic & employment opportunity, education, housing, food security, transportation & infrastructure, and quality of life.
LkldNow’s Insight Polk independent reporting is made possible by the United Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida. All editorial decisions are made by LkldNow.
Kayla Borg is a Lakeland native and graduate of Western Carolina University, where she earned her degree in English and film production. She began her media career in Atlanta at CNN, quickly rising from production assistant editor to technical director/editor, leading live broadcasts alongside field reporters. Since then, she’s worked in education, instructional design and independent filmmaking.
Wow, a whole 1.5 miles to Publix, on South Florida Ave, with a bus stop right in front of it. Dixieland is not a food desert, sorry to burst your narrative bubble.
Cool story! Such and important issue and need! I like the solutions suggested too. I wish more places used the Too Good To Go app or other ways to help reduce waste nd feed people.
If you can walk to publix or Harveys or take the peach bus you aren’t in a desert unless you have trouble getting around I have walked. We used to have a Spanish market in Dixieland but no more. I wish we had one again. Between downtown and Southgate no grocery but there is a bodega downtown now. It would be great to have a tiny grocery. Just basic things can be a lifesaver
“Food desert” is a popular buzz-word journalists love to use. Please, 93% of America has access to food delivery services, including Dixieland. There’s food for sale virtually everywhere in Lakeland
One and a half miles is a long way for elderly and disabled people to travel. Those living in poverty are not likely to order online for delivery because they don’t have smart phones and computers, or they don’t know how to use them, or they don’t even know that the service is available. Gerhard, you need to get out more and meet some real people. Let me show you around East Buffalo.
Wow, a whole 1.5 miles to Publix, on South Florida Ave, with a bus stop right in front of it. Dixieland is not a food desert, sorry to burst your narrative bubble.
Cool story! Such and important issue and need! I like the solutions suggested too. I wish more places used the Too Good To Go app or other ways to help reduce waste nd feed people.
Publix online delivers … problem solved. Next !
If you can walk to publix or Harveys or take the peach bus you aren’t in a desert unless you have trouble getting around I have walked. We used to have a Spanish market in Dixieland but no more. I wish we had one again. Between downtown and Southgate no grocery but there is a bodega downtown now. It would be great to have a tiny grocery. Just basic things can be a lifesaver
Exactly what I came here to say. WalMart as well.
“Food desert” is a popular buzz-word journalists love to use. Please, 93% of America has access to food delivery services, including Dixieland. There’s food for sale virtually everywhere in Lakeland
One and a half miles is a long way for elderly and disabled people to travel. Those living in poverty are not likely to order online for delivery because they don’t have smart phones and computers, or they don’t know how to use them, or they don’t even know that the service is available. Gerhard, you need to get out more and meet some real people. Let me show you around East Buffalo.
Call Viste,