LA Más

Farm on Wheels is a distribution system to bring locally-grown, high quality produce to all Los Angeles neighborhoods via a customized fleet of clean, biodiesel trucks. Using a centralized stockhouse for produce storage and a series of trucks to deliver a la carte fruits and vegetables, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes, and locally made artisanal food to communities across the Southland, we will provide access to convenient, healthy food that is essential to good health. With access to fresh produce, Los Angeles residents will be better able to prevent and manage the health concerns of obesity, diabetes, and coronary disease.

Farm on Wheels trucks will serve as traveling hubs of healthy food. Departing from a central facility that stores wholesale produce from local farmers, the trucks will travel to communities across Los Angeles, setting up shop at churches, schools, transit centers, and employment centers, operating as a roving farmer’s market. This model offers advantages over traditional farmers markets, which usually come at high costs to farmers because of the labor involved in transporting and selling their goods. Also, customers that have difficulty reaching their weekly farmers market can now visit the truck that comes multiple times a week to accessible, well-trafficked locations.

The trucks won’t just deliver food, but act as vehicles for equity exchange between LA’s geographically and economically varied neighborhoods. Looking at a map of food deserts in Los Angeles, you notice they are heavily concentrated in South and East Los Angeles. It follows that these neighborhoods are also the site of higher rates of obesity and its associated chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Aside from giving residents of these underserved communities access to the farmers markets that are usually reserved for more privileged parts of Los Angeles, there will be more direct exchanges of equity through subsidized products. For example, patrons purchasing produce with EBT will receive a bonus on every dollar spent at Farm on Wheels. Also, a number of free monthly CSA boxes will be funded through revenue from the sale of artisanal goods and CSA subscriptions. All of these alternative revenue sources will combine to make Farm on Wheels accessible and affordable.

Unhealthy diet leads to obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, and a host of other chronic diseases. By providing access to fruits and vegetables to the communities that are most in need, Farm on Wheels will help reverse the trend of poor diet and its associated health risks. These trucks can providing the building blocks for a balanced diet that will be the foundation in transforming these food deserts to health havens.