This is an unfortunate situation when large scale suppliers dont play ball with smaller stores and when predatory chains like dollar general play the price wars game to drive away better options.

Unfortunately the kinds of people who live in food deserts tend to be the most price conscious and they will take the longer trip if they need to in order to stretch their dollar out more.

As an aside I think the article focusing on Cairo, IL of all places was such an unusual choice and I wonder how much of the problems that they had were unique to their location. Cairo is a town who's population has been declining and whos buildings have been abandoning for the better part of the last hundred years. This is a trend that a lot of rust belt cities share, but Cairo was a small city of under 20,000 that has shrunk to under 1,000. What few people remaining there got a further kick in the rear by the fact that the area has gotten some bad flooding as well.

Cairo is a relatively remote town that is being steadily abandoned, and has a propensity for flooding(which accelerated the slow process). That isnt to say that they arent a food desert, or that the remaining people there who likely cant afford to move dont deserve better, but I feel like they are an example of a town who's got more stacked against them than what we usually think of when we think of food deserts (like a poor neighborhood in a city). Honestly I think its not unrealistic to believe the town as a whole will be abandoned in the coming decade.