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I fully agree with you: Fruit and vegetables from local farmers is a bit more expensive. Whether it's from local farmers is also not really relevant to the nutritional value. So the whole line of reasoning is just complete bogus. The whole article feels like a thinly-veiled advertisement without any informational value.

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It's an exaggeration to say only high income people can afford fruits and vegetables, but it is true that affording them can be a problem for many lower income people.

Around 19 million people in the US live in "food deserts", which are low-income places with poor access to transportation and no supermarkets within a mile (for urban and suburban food deserts) or within 10 miles (for rural food deserts).

Their choices for affordable day to day food tend to be fast food places and convenience stores. When the closest you've got to a grocery store is 7-11 your fruit and vegetable options are limited.

I can’t find the link, but i read that food deserts are mostly there as a result of market effects, i.e. insufficient customers bought fresh fruits and vegetables from shops in that area, so they closed.

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