In some American neighborhoods, a resident can walk three blocks in any direction and find a supermarket stocked with fresh produce, specialty items, and organic alternatives; living in such a “food oasis” is defined by abundance, choice, and competition. In others, a resident must travel miles just to buy basic groceries, navigating convenience stores where fresh food is scarce and prices are high. The United States Department of Agriculture defines food deserts as “[l]ow-income census tracts where a significant number (at least 500 people) or share (at least 33 percent) of the population is greater than one-half mile from the nearest supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store for an urban area or greater than 10 miles for a rural area.” Under this measure, around 53.6 million people, or 17.4 percent of the U.S. population, live in food deserts. Such limited access to healthy food correlates to high rates of obesity and chronic, diet-related diseases, and is associated with shorter life expectancies.
With over 6,500 food deserts in the United States, the sheer size highlights that food deserts are not isolated anomalies but part of a broader, persistent pattern that demands closer scrutiny of the structural forces that determine where critical food infrastructure is placed.
In this Note, I will argue that the conditions that give rise to food deserts are not simply remnants of historical segregation and natural economic forces, but a reflection of structural market failure sustained by anticompetitive corporate practices. While discriminatory land-use policies and racialized divestment laid the groundwork for unequal food access, contemporary market dynamics play a central role in maintaining and deepening these disparities. I further argue that modern antitrust enforcement, especially under the 2023 Merger Guidelines issued by the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), offers a viable and underutilized tool to confront the market dynamics that perpetuate food deserts.
To read this Note, please click here: Starving Competition: How the 2023 Merger Guidelines Can Combat Food Deserts as an Antitrust Failure