Chicago's urban agriculture movement, which I reported on in our most recent feature article, partly developed in response to what researcher Mari Gallagher dubbed "food deserts" -- geographic areas lacking access to grocery stores. When I asked about the market dynamics at play in these underserved urban communities, Gallagher (author of the landmark 2006 study on food deserts) offered this point: among grocers, market knowledge and profit margins are low. This means many are hesitant to jump into untested waters, preferring instead to compete in locations they are certain will support such businesses.

Nonetheless, in her first Huffington Post entry, Gallagher rightfully questions why purveyors don't explore these uncharted waters:

The National Center for Public Research makes its information available to the public and asks different kinds of questions. Here's one: can the market do well by doing some good? Why not? In Chicago alone we have identified a half-million-plus people who live in a Food Desert with no or distant grocery stores but nearby access to fast food. A substantial number of them are single mothers and children. My guess is that women, more than anyone else, know the importance of food to stitching together the delicate continuum of life. It is ironic that these women are the most disenfranchised from the food market given that they probably value and understand it more than any other consumer group.

Want some evidence that market knowledge is low? Gallagher provides some interesting data to show that the desperately poor aren't the only Chicagoans affected by the scarcity of quality grocers in certain urban areas. Of the 203,369 Chicago households that fall in food deserts, 31 percent have an annual income of $50,000 or more and 14 percent have an annual income of $75,000 or more.

At the end of the month, Gallagher's consulting group will release an update on its 2006 study. We'll be sure to post the findings.