Gleaning Program

What is gleaning?

Gleaning is the act of harvesting excess or unmarketable produce from a farm.

The gleaning program at the Vermont Foodbank uses volunteers to glean produce at local farms; the food is then distributed through the Foodbank's network partners to Vermonters-in-need.


Why we glean
"The United States produces 356 billion pounds of food annually. Of this annual total, 96 billion pounds is lost between production and consumption every year. This translates into 27 percent of the American food supply (Kantor et al. 1997)."

"The 96 billion pounds of wasted food could easily feed the 38 million people considered food-insecure in America (Nord et al. 2004)."

Interested in learning more or participating as a volunteer, community leader, farm owner, or produce donation site?

Contact:

Theresa Snow, Program Director of Agricultural Resources

(802) 477-4114

tsnow@vtfoodbank.org

Vermont Foodbank Gleaning Program

Vermont Foodbank
PO Box 254
South Barre, VT 05670

History

The Vermont Foodbank gleaning program originated as a community non-profit called Salvation Farms, started by Theresa Snow and Jen O'Donnell. Snow began gleaning in 2004 as a side project at Pete's Greens, and in 2005 created Salvation Farms with Jen under the fiscal sponsorship of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT). Officially organized in 2005 to serve the Lamoille Valley area, Salvation Farms had strengthened greatly in the years since its inception due to the dedication of its co-founders. Between 2005 and 2008, the organization's gleanings have totaled over 88,000 pounds from Lamoille Valley farms.

 

In January 2008, Salvation Farms became a program of the Vermont Foodbank, and is now known as the "Vermont Foodbank Gleaning Program". This development offers both stability and ways to increase Vermont's food security. As we sharpen our skills, we hope to show that (with determination) gleaning can become a reality for all Vermont communities on the path to a more sustainable future.

The gleaning program is designed to be a model that can be implemented and maintained by any community. When successfully replicated these systems will remedy the lack of fresh produce available at food sites serving the nutritionally- and food-insecure in Vermont. Naturally, the future of local fresh food recovery depends on the level of interest across Vermont, and the collaboration of organizations and individuals at the community level.

~Many hands make light work~