Produce program expands - Vermont Foodbank

March 20, 2008

Produce program expands

By Sara Buscher
Free Press Staff Writer

For four years, Theresa Snow organized volunteers to walk through farmers' fields following the harvest, digging leftover potatoes and picking tomatoes and lettuce that would otherwise go to waste, to share with hungry families in the Lamoille Valley through a program called Salvation Farms. Additional produce was given to the Vermont Foodbank.

This year, the two groups have teamed to launch the effort statewide.

The lagging economy has forced the foodbank to find more creative ways to put food on its shelves, as more people request help and fewer can afford to donate, CEO Doug O'Brien said. The foodbank, based in Barre, provided 6 million pounds of food to needy Vermonters last year through its member agencies.

"Everyone understands the economic downturn. What people might not see is the pressure stagnant wages and high gas, fuel oil and utility costs have put on the foodbank," O'Brien said. More than 1 in 10 Vermonters qualify for additional food resources; an independent research survey conducted for the foodbank indicated more than one-third of people the organization serves were forced to choose between fuel oil and food as prices spiked. "That was back when fuel oil was $50 a barrel. Now it's $108 a barrel," O'Brien said.

There is an untapped food source available in Vermont, said O'Brien, citing the number of local farms across the state. "It's on the ag side -- where the growth is."

Snow started Salvation Farms while working for Pete's Greens, an organic farm in Craftsbury. Looking to give her life more purpose than a paycheck at the end of the day, she began delivering the farm's extra greens to the foodbank. Since then, she's devoted all her time to a grass-roots effort to harvest several farms' surplus, donating 88,000 pounds of fresh produce to 40 sites in the past three years.

Snow will continue to serve Lamoille County in her efforts, and has joined the foodbank staff as program director of agricultural resources to foster growth of the model in the rest of the state. She also will oversee the operation of the Foodbank Farm in Montpelier, a five-acre farm operated in conjunction with the nonprofit Food Works at Two Rivers Center.

"Part of our mission at the foodbank is to give folks access to nourishing food," said foodbank communications specialist Judith Stermer. "This program helps to link the charitable food system and the agricultural food system."

Snow said she hopes to teach her neighbors to feel less dependent on the economy by showing them ways to increase their food security by relying on fresh local produce, and perhaps even planting their own gardens. "The foodbank has relied heavily on shelf-stable foods," Snow said. "This project has the potential to affect consumer mind-sets."

Snow said the program stands to support the local farming economy, too, by increasing the willingness of some consumers to try new foods and, having learned how to prepare and enjoy them, purchase more fresh produce at farmers' markets using food stamps.

Last year, Salvation Farms contributed 48,000 pounds of gleaned produce to the foodbank. O'Brien estimates that amount could top 100,000 pounds this year, assuming favorable weather and a stable commercial economy.

The farmer who has to plow under an acre of surplus potatoes can get a tax deduction for the food he donates instead; and hungry families can enjoy healthy food they might not otherwise be able to afford, O'Brien said. "It's a win-win for everybody, at a time when it's most needed."

To volunteer for the Salvation Farms program, contact Theresa Snow at 505-1689 or tsnow@secondharvest.org.
Contact Sara Buscher at 651-4811 or sbuscher@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com

March 20, 2008

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