Published December 14, 2021

 Veggies For All Increases Harvest by 36% for Hunger Relief in 2021

The gleaning program took in more than 34,000 pounds of produce

Thanks to increased collaboration among community partners and the skills of a new coordinator, the Veggies For All (VFA) gleaning program harvested more than 34,000 pounds of farm-grown fruits and vegetables for local hunger relief agencies in 2021. That’s a 36 percent increase over 2020. Waldo County Bounty (WCB) has managed Veggies For All since the start of the pandemic. 

“Local farms sometimes have crops that they cannot sell for a variety of reasons,” said Allie Smith, Veggies For All coordinator. “This was an excellent year for gleaning due to so many farms and orchards reaching out to offer produce, and through our growing partnership with Johnny's Selected Seeds (JSS), which accounted for more than 65 percent of our donated produce this year.”

As soon as a farm offers produce, VFA puts out the call for volunteers using its mailing list, with support from WCB. In 2021, volunteers donated more than 150 hours, and we anticipate that even more volunteers will be needed in 2022 to gather all the available produce. People interested in volunteering can sign up here to join the effort.

One gleaning event this year took place at the JSS Research Farm in Albion, where tomato varieties of diverse colors, shapes, sizes, and flavors hung from the vines. Volunteers from all walks of life gathered in the morning – the fields bordered by trees at the peak of fall foliage. After two hours, they’d harvested more than 1000 pounds of tomatoes. 

“Obviously it was fun to get in the dirt and the vegetables, but doing it alongside some fun people was awesome,” said one first-time volunteer. “I was curious about what happened to food that didn’t make it off the field, so it’s great to know that these tomatoes will go to people who really can use them.”

After the glean, VFA distributed the produce to food pantries and hunger relief organizations – most nearby in interior Waldo County. WCB’s Farm-to-Pantry Program contract partner, Daybreak Growers Alliance, assisted with storage and refrigeration. 

WCB and JSS are discussing new ways to grow their gleaning partnership in 2022. Thank you to our farm partners who make VFA gleaning possible: Flood-Tilton Sweet Corn Stand, Hope Orchards, MOFGA, Songbird Farm, South Paw Farm, Chase’s, White Pine Farm, and others! 

Veggies For All, a program of Unity Barn Raisers, has operated in and around Unity since 2007 and started gleaning there in 2016. Since coming under the management of WCB in 2020, it has expanded its work across all of Waldo County.