Santa Clara County, once known as Valley of Heart\’s delight due to its abundant fruit and vegetable production, has lost almost half of its farmland, much of it to sprawling urban development with little access to healthy foods.This pattern of urbanization has disproportionately affected low-income communities where convenience stores and fast-food restaurants, rather than supermarkets, dominate the food landscape.Large health disparities by income and race mean that low-income communities of color bear the brunt of our unhealthy food system; 14 percent of our county\’s population was \”food insecure\” in 2010, unable to reliably meet their daily food needs with their own or public resources.Moreover, issues of access to healthy food resources affect many residents of Santa Clara County who consume fewer fruits and vegetables than recommended, with diet-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes reaching epidemic levels.The Santa Clara County Food System Alliance believes that solving these problems turns on a robust, sustainable local food system that provides all of our residents with access to culturally appropriate, healthy food at affordable prices. In our recently released Food Systems Assessment, we put forward several solutions.

via Hunger in Silicon Valley: Bringing healthy food to poor communities is a challenge – San Jose Mercury News.