Everyone knows how I feel about food waste. It. Is. Bad. The thing is, when people go hungry all over the world, it seems seriously shameful to let food go to waste. That’s why, when I read this article on NPR about one woman’s response to the estimated 40% waste of all of our food {from everything to food going bad in the fridge before we eat it to the food that goes unpicked on neighborhood trees}, I just had to share.
First, a little background: The woman, Sarah Ramirez, holds a Ph.D. in epidemiology from Stanford. She’s one smart cookie. She comes from a poor part of California’s Central Valley, where her own parents made a living as farmworkers. Her job as Tulare County’s epidemiologist actually heightened her awareness to the connection of the growing rates in obesity and diabetes to the access to healthy foods because of poverty in her area.
She also began to notice the amount of food that went to waste, either because it was not harvested or it did not look perfect according the grocery store standards, and therefore could not be sold. She could not bear to see so many hungry people and SO MUCH WASTED FOOD, so she left the world of high pay and prestige to form an operation she has named, Be Healthy Tulare.
Now, she partners up with farmers, who cannot sell certain produce because of a crook in the squash or a nick on the skin of the produce. She agrees to pick and harvest crops that would otherwise be tilled under and she delivers them to food banks around her area. The food banks win because they simply do not have the resources {and because of liability reasons} to pick the fruit/veggies themselves, and her community wins.
She also offers instruction on HOW to cook and prepare the produce, because for many, fresh produce is such a luxury, they do not know how to make it palatable.
Ms. Ramirez, I salute you. Food waste is such a HUGE problem, thanks for taking a chunk out of it.
How about YOU, have you ever donated excess produce to your food bank {or would you be willing to if you had excess}?
~Mavis
Alicia Humphrey says
This is fantastic! It makes me so happy to hear that there are such wonderful, caring people out there. It’s sad how rare it is to find selfless people now. Th
Tracy Sch says
What a wonderful article. We do this on a small scale in our little community (population 3500). We have a couple that organized a “food bank” for local families and we have a community garden. The harvest from the garden goes to that food bank. Anyone in the area that has extra produce from their gardens is welcomed and encouraged to donate it. I love the fact that the red tape has been removed from the process.
Thank you for sharing the article.
Carla says
Wow, I live in Tulare County and was not familiar with this program. I’ll have to check it out. However, we have a great group of senior gleaners that does something very similar in that they gather food and distribute it for a small yearly charge once a week.. It’s $75.00 annually for a grocery bag full every week. Also, one of the Jr. High schools has a terrific gardening program where the kids grow the vegetables and one of the teachers shows them how to prepare it. The gardening program in under the care of Mr. David Prestage and it’s pretty darned amazing. I wish every school had a garden and taught the children how to grow and prepare their own food. If you are interested, I can probably get some photos.
Tammy says
That is awesome!
Having grown up in Tulare County, and having my dad working in the fruit industry for over 20 years, I know that the waste of fruit is abundant! Farmers do sell their culls in small amounts to places for baby food, but the majority of fruit that cannot be sold is dumped between the fruit trees and left to rot. Not only does fruit have to look “perfect” in order to make it to the grocery store, it also has to be a perfect amount of ripe, but not too ripe and not too green.
amanda says
I live in the Central Valley as well and many (most) of the houses have some form of fruit tree growing and hanging over the back fences. It pains me to see all of this fruit go to waste! Soo many citrus, persimmons and pomegranates rotting on the trees! Our backyard was bare when we bought our little house last year and I planted 9 fruit trees and have yet to get any fruit 🙁 At my last house we had a huge Meyer lemon tree and I would pick the excess and put it in a box with a free sign out front. I wish everyone would do that!
Shannon says
Have you heard of Ron Finley? He did a TED talk and I think you would like him! I just heard him on NPR. Here is the link to his talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerilla_gardener_in_south_central_la.html
Jess says
My husband’s company has a table where, every Wednesday, people can put excess produce from their gardens or refrigerators, or any food that someone wants to get rid of. It’s donated to a local food bank at the end of the day. We started our garden late so didn’t have much to give but when my Armenian cucumber went nuts at the end of the summer and we had them coming out of our ears, we donated the extras which we couldn’t trade with friends.
Ramona says
I lived in Fresno for a few years in the late 70’s. The farmers would let us glean the fields. I remember getting almonds, peaches,grapes. I canned more peaches in summer outside over a camp stove in the Fresno heat. Now that I live in Idaho I have seen people picking up potatoes left over in the fields.
Teri says
I share what I grow with a local food bank. 🙂 there’s no excuse to let food rot when people are hungry.
Stacey says
Why don’t the grocery stores sell less-than-perfect produce at a reduced price? I won’t pay the asking price for blemished produce, but I would buy it for a lesser price. I actually do, at the 99 Cents Only store. Growing my own food in the desert worked so poorly I’m not sure I want to waste the time on it again, but I would love to move somewhere where I can have a huge garden and share with neighbors and those in need. In Vermont, one of the local farmers planted a few rows of sweet corn around his cow corn field. He left it open for anyone to go pick it. We filled our trunk with a year’s worth of corn every year. I would love to do something like that for my community!
mildred lane says
My local grocery stores do have a shopping cart w/ reduced price items and I love to shop there. Last time there were a few trays w/ mixed items for sale. Example- 1 yellow squash, 2 potatoes, 1 tomato/tray. It was wonderful for one person.
sharri says
When I lived in florida, the food banks where i lived could not accept home grown food, one guy was approved by the city and he brought in loads of it. I volunteered for awhile there they had alot of people who wanted to give home grown produce but they could not because it wasnt allowed not sure why . thats what I was told.
now in pennsylvania, I wonder if there is a protocol for donating fresh produce to pantries or shelters. I will have a 12 x 40 garden this next year and is definitely more than we can eat , can dry etc. so I would like to share it!
carl wayne says
We grew and donated to local charities 4,687 lbs in 2013 on 4200 sq feet which is one tenth of an acre and none of it was zucchini. LOL
Breanne says
The CSA that I work for donated extra produce to the food banks in Calgary and High River, Alberta, as well as to people who lost their homes due to the devastating flooding we had this year. They also allowed people to come out to the farm to pick excess produce. There’s also a program that encourages people to grow or donate extra produce for the food bank, which I know a lot of local schools, community gardens, and individual homeowners take part in.
Sally says
Have you heard about this group in Arizona? Hubby and I winter down there and have taken advantage of this. Its way to much for us and we shared with our neighbors. We walked around and knocked on doors and asked them if they wanted any of the veggies, some were hesitant, but after we told them what it was about, they all gratefully took the veggies we offered. It was fun, and good way to get to know your neighbors. We only had 1 person who refused. 60 pounds of produce for $10 bucks. The variety changes each week as does the location, and they come in big refrigerated semi-trucks. The veggies are close to a pull date but are certainly edible. Wish we had something like this up here in the Puget Sound. Here is the link if you are interested in checking them out. It is so awesome!
https://the3000club.org/index.php/market-on-the-move
Not quite sure why the link is not being clickable, but you can also google search by market on the move
Stacey says
I’m in Arizona and I got very excited reading your post. Sadly, I live in Mohave County where this program is not available. Thank you for letting me know that it’s there, though!
Rachel says
Mavis, you rock for sharing this with us. Thanks!
Katie B. says
We have a similar organization in Charleston, SC called Fields to Families. http://www.fieldstofamilies.org Our family has volunteered several times to glean the farms, bag up the produce, and drive it to local food banks and food pantries. Its a great project for kids to learn farming skills and doing good for others. Plus, some kids don’t know what food actually looks like growing in fields! As a bonus, we are able to glean some produce for our own families. Double bonus! Last year we took home so many collards that I was able to cook them up and freeze them for later use.