Fresh Produce Recovery Models

March 28, 2017

According to the food bank network Feeding America, its members supply food to more than 37 million Americans each year, including 14 million children and three million seniors.

However, fresh fruit and vegetables are frequently in low supply at food banks. One solution is gleaning: collecting excess fresh foods from farms, gardens, farmers markets, grocers, restaurants, state/county fairs, or other sources, in order to provide fruit and produce to those in need.

According to the Vermont Foodbank, a focus on fresh produce is a strategy that works, providing healthier food to people who depend on food banks for their meals. The Vermont Foodbank has effectively built partnerships with schools, hospitals, and housing sites to ensure the distribution of fresh food to those who need it the most.

Through farm gleaning efforts at nearly 80 Vermont farms in 2015, more than 442,000 pounds of fresh Vermont produce were made available to Vermonters in need. The organization’s goal for 2016 was to increase its distribution to two million pounds.

Vermont Foodbank’s Pick for Your Neighbor campaign resulted in 18,042 pounds of apples being gathered and distributed to food shelves and meal sites in the Foodbank’s network in 2015. Twenty apple orchards, along with families, community members, and corporate, school and civic groups, participated in the effort.

A NERC webinar held in November—Innovative Food Rescue Models–presented two models of food recovery efforts focusing on fresh produce. One model, Boulder Food Rescue, recovers fresh foods from grocers. The organization’s Food Rescue Alliance offers resources and trainings to other food recovery organizations wanting to adopt their model.

The other model presented was the Friendship Donations Network’s Neighborhood Food Hubs. Through the “hubs,” residents can donate excess produce from gardens or CSAs (community supported agriculture).  Volunteers working with FDN place coolers on their porches for neighborhood donors to drop off excess produce. Community gardens, farm stands, farmers’ markets, community centers, and even public libraries also participate in the program by hosting hub collection points.

Salvation Farms presents another model for gleaning surplus farm produce for distribution to food recovery organizations. Salvation Farms is building a proactive statewide management system for Vermont’s farm surplus. The organization estimates that unmarketable farm surplus exceeds two million pounds annually in Vermont and, at best, only 12% of this resource is currently being captured.

Through the Vermont Gleaning Collective and Vermont Commodity Program, Salvation Farms is creating several statewide gleaning initiatives. The goal is to increase Vermont’s capacity to capture greater volumes of wasted farm fresh surplus by supporting Collective member organizations as they develop and manage effective gleaning programs. Also through their model, farm surplus in volumes too large for a gleaning initiative to distribute in their local community will be aggregated into the Commodity Program for raw case packing or light processing.

This unique model for agricultural surplus management does not exist anywhere else in the U.S. The model serves to not only capture and distribute fresh produce surplus to those in need; it also builds resilience in the farming community. Salvation Farms strives to engage a mix of community stakeholders to address food waste and food inequality. The model serves to build Vermont’s food system, as well as to increase: 1) local food consumption, 2) farm production awareness, 3) regional food processing, 4) workforce development, and 5)  in-state investment in local agriculture, while reducing the social and environment impacts of investing  outside Vermont.

In the spring of 2016, Salvation Farms measured demand for fresh produce in Vermont food or meal programs by surveying hundreds of local organizations. "The Fresh Produce Needs Across Vermont" report estimates that statewide there is a need for more than 14 million pounds of fresh produce annually.

By Athena Lee Bradley

NERC is hosting a free webinar on March 30, from 1:30 - 3 pm (EST). Building Resiliency in Food Recovery will address the connections between wasted food reduction and food recovery.

Presenters and Topics for the webinar:

• Building Collaboration for the Food Waste Challenge

Elise Golan, Ph.D., Director for Sustainable Development,

Office of the Chief Economist, U.S. Department of Agriculture

• The New Food Movement and the Importance of Law and Collaboration

Laurie Beyranevand, JD, Senior Faculty Fellow

Center for Agriculture and Food Systems

Vermont Law School

• Agricultural Surplus Management and Food System Resiliency

Theresa Snow, Executive Director

Salvation Farms

To register for the webinar:  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/981809288541046019