Gleaners Comb Farm Fields to Feed the Newly Hungry

[Nepperhan]

I’d like to volunteer for such an effort.

Armed with a cheap steak knife and a plastic basket lined with a garbage bag, a high-school sophomore named Alicia Garlic sat cross-legged in the dirt at Specca Farms, a pick-your-own operation here in South Jersey. As the sun burned through the early morning clouds, she harvested curly-leaf spinach as fast as she could, lopping the sweet green tops off yellowing plants, trimming away thickening stems.

Ms. Garlic wasn’t picking greens for herself on this Tuesday morning in June, but for Farmers Against Hunger, a program of the New Jersey Agricultural Society. Along with more than a dozen others spread out along the rows for social distancing — a retired schoolteacher, a Census Bureau employee, a young mother with her grade-schooler in tow — she was there to glean.

Meet the Gleaners, Combing Farm Fields to Feed the Newly Hungry - The New York Times

 

[dscath]

Its a noble cause, but perhaps a romantic notion. An easier way to do the same, yet impact more hungry, might be to volunteer (or donate) to your local Feed America location.

https://www.feedingamerica.org/about-us/press-room/fighting-hunger-one-volunteer-at-a-time

 

[TheLittleLady]

One can buy from companies who take the less than top quality produce, this is becoming popular!

A challenge in some places, like where I live, is finding people to take this surplus food. We have food banks with truckloads of produce, milk, etc that goes bad because no one wants it.

Getting gleaned or imperfect or oversupply of perishable food to the actual food deserts is the challenge.

 

[Annie]

challenge in some places, like where I live, is finding people to take this surplus food. We have food banks with truckloads of produce, milk, etc that goes bad because no one wants it.

Are they going for other foods instead?

Could it be that people do not know what to do with the fresh produce?