Greater control is one reason that a handful of food banks are embracing soil-free systems as a way to grow produce for their clients. Greenhouse farming through hydroponics (where the roots grow in water) and aeroponics (where the roots are irrigated with a mist of nutrients) offers a measure of…
Posts published in “Farms”
Driving to a ballgame five years ago, Mark Kleinschmidt, CEO of Healthy Harvest Food Bank, turned to his then 12-year-old son and asked, “What can I do in my job that’ll get you to do what I do without making you do what I do?” Kleinschmidt’s son pondered for a…
It’s widely acknowledged in the hunger relief community that the people who grow the nation’s food also tend to be among the most food-insecure. The estimated 2.4 million people in the U.S. who work on farms, many of them southern border immigrants, earned an average of $20,000 to $25,000 in…
A number of small-scale farms have taken root at food banks and pantries across the country. Paradoxically, those who work on them will be the first to tell you that growing food for its own sake is not necessarily a top priority. “Obviously, in serving 200 people a day, the…
Food banks that run or support farms with a cultural mission are reaping more than just crops. At food-bank farms, cultural awareness can take on many forms: The farms may be focused on supporting Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), or helping to create a sense of community among…
For Steven Kullberg, Chief Operating Officer at Food Bank of the Rockies, a new government program promising over 3 million pounds of produce, milk and dairy from American farmers each month to supplement the food his organization provides to communities in northern Colorado and Wyoming was too good to pass…
At least one recipient of USDA grant money to package and deliver boxes of fresh produce to non-profits via the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program should be well known to food banks, especially those along the Northeast corridor. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Cooperative, with a central warehouse in Philadelphia, Pa., announced this…
The discord of farmers plowing under excess crops as food banks struggle to meet soaring demand is one image that Andrew Morehouse, Executive Director of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, does not have to worry about. Each year, about 40 small farms in the area donate half a million…
The lowly cardboard box plays a starring role in the USDA’s plan to purchase $3 billion worth of commodities from the nation’s farmers and pass it along to food banks and other hunger-relief organizations. The Coronavirus Food Assistance Program or CFAP, announced late last week, requires wholesalers and distributors to…