Theses and Dissertations Collection

The aim of this research is to understand the complexity of community food insecurity in a rural region of the United States. In this country food security is more about improper distribution than about scarcity. Quantifying why and where food distribution is not equitable or adequate depends on the context of place. Multiple indicators of food security specified in the literature were analyzed to create a food insecurity index. The index was compared to regional insight through the use of stakeholder surveys. We further analyzed the food insecurity index for spatial autocorrelation using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology to look for spatial patterns in the region of potential clustering or dispersal of the phenomena. Balancing top-down and bottom-up approaches, this project uses a mixed methods approach by testing the multidimensional indicators of food insecurity to uncover potential barriers that are affecting the most vulnerable areas within the region.