WESTMINSTER — Almost one-fifth of the fruits and vegetables raised on American farms never make it out of the field.
Combine that with the fact that 50 million people aren't sure where or when they will get their next meal, and you have a big problem in this country of plenty.
“Crop shrink,” the difference between the food available for harvest and the volume that makes it to market, is due to many factors.
If the weather has been good, there may be more produce than a farmer can sell. Some of the fruit or vegetables may not be the size, shape, or color that traditional markets demand. Part of this bounty would spoil before the farmer can pick it.
Call it a pot of nutritious gold at the end of a rainbow which will soon disappear.
Local farmers and the gleaning program of the Vermont Foodbank are hard at work to put this treasure to good use.
Gleaning gathers crops either left over following a harvest or else grown on fields deemed not profitable to harvest. Volunteers glean local fields at least twice a week and gather tons of quality produce: apples, beets, broccoli, spinach, and summer squash among the delights.
According to Hannah Pick, Gleaning and Community Outreach Coordinator for the Vermont Foodbank, this past week turned out “a fantastic broccoli glean. We were able to bring in 1,500 pounds in two hours. I didn't think it was possible, but we actually gleaned the entire field.”
Pick said that her group included three people from Youth Services' RAMP (Ready to Achieve Mentoring Program) and Matt Gowell, the chef at Our Place Drop In Center, who brought a group as well.
Good for schools, students
Pick noted that local schools see many reasons for their students to participate in the gleaning program: It offers public service opportunities and insight into courses such as biology and economics.
Participating schools have included the Greenwood School, The Compass School, The Putney School, Vermont Academy, Marlboro College, and World Learning's Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program.
Pick added that area farmers say that inviting the gleaners into their fields is another way all can support their community.
Paul Harlow of Harlow Farm is passionate about providing his customers with good food.
“I'd like to feed everyone in Vermont,” he said, “but running the farm takes all my time. By inviting the gleaners to pick in my fields, I can grow healthy, organic food - and they can get it to the people who need it most.”
Putney resident Claire Wilson said she's been gleaning for four years. And why she does it comes from the heart: “By golly, there are tons of produce that otherwise wouldn't be used by people. This way, people who can't afford it get to eat beautiful vegetables.”
Lani Wharton is Putney Foodshelf's volunteer coordinator. She said gleaning rewards her in many ways.
“It's an untapped opportunity: a way for little old me to make things a little better,” she said. And when gleaning, she said, she finds “treasures in the fields that would be inedible if left one more day.”
At the Putney Foodshelf, Wharton said she gets to see “the smiles on people's faces when they see what they are getting - not just canned goods, but also beautiful fresh fruit and vegetables.”
A couple of hours does the trick
Under Pick's direction, the volunteers arrive in the designated field at 8:30 a.m. The farmer has chosen the area to glean, but otherwise doesn't have to lift a finger.
Pick brings knives, bags, and boxes needed in gleaning and packaging the produce. In two hours, six or eight volunteers can gather hundreds of pounds of fresh vegetables and pack them in a truck for delivery to the Foodbank's southern region distribution center in Brattleboro.
Foodbank programs work
Vermont Foodbank's programs help feed upward of 86,000 Vermonters who depend on food assistance, the organization notes. It connects to a varied population through a network of 270 food shelves, meals sites, senior centers, shelters, and after-school programs,
More than 60 Vermont farms support foodbank programs. Local farms include Jon Cohen's Deep Meadow Farm, a new CSA, in Ascutney; Michael Collins' Old Athens Farm in Westminster; and Holton Farms, owned by cousins Seth Holton and Jurrien Swarts and family friend George Hornig, in Westminster village.
Other farms supporting the gleaning program include the Darrow family's Green Mountain Orchards in Putney and Tatiana Schreiber's Sowing Peace “pocket farm” in Westminster West.
Vermont's oldest certified organic farm, High Meadows Farm in Putney, and one of its newest, Wild Carrot Farm in Brattleboro, also participate.
Centuries of experience
Tradition and innovation seem to blend comfortably in gleaning. The Harlow family has farmed in Westminster for more than 200 years.
According to the farm website, “As eighth-generation farmers, we take farming seriously. We use sustainable farming methods, not because it's in fashion, but because it makes sense and it's the right thing to do.”
Paul Harlow is the third generation of his family to own this land. His grandfather started it in 1918, and then his father transformed it primarily into a dairy farm. It took Paul three years of careful cultivation, using only biological fertilizers and pesticides, to have it certified organic.
The 300-acre farm now produces a bounty of vegetables, fruits, poultry, eggs, beef, lamb, and pork.
The making of a mensch
Hyim Savel was only 13 when he brought his own tradition to gleaning.
In Jewish culture, a mitzvah is a good deed. Every Jewish boy must complete a mitzvah project in preparing for bar mitzvah. Savel was introduced to gleaning when he went into the fields with his mother. Not long after, he chose to undertake 16 hours of gleaning - and to write a paper on gleaning for his mitzvah project.
And why?
“It's cool,” he said.
Claire Wilson is 70 years older than Savel. A spry 83, she is proof that almost anyone can glean.
“We need more people. There is a lot more food that doesn't get gleaned. Come on out. It's fun and it feels good,” she said.