Difficult Year for Food Donations But Need Continues to Rise
By Tim Linden I t’s November and lots of harvesting equipment has transitioned from coastal California to the western desert growing regions for winter. And so has the search for fresh vegetable donations. Feeding America is a nationwide network of food banks that provides an untold number of meals every year to millions of U.S. residents every week through food pantries and other programs. The umbrella organization, as well as the individual food banks, rely on government programs, cash donations, surplus food and fresh produce donations to help narrow the nutrition deficits that often plague the most needy among us. Melissa Kendrick, executive director of the Food Bank for Monterey County said the approximately 10 million pounds of fresh produce her organization receives each year from local growers is critical to supplement the shelf-stable products that form the backbone of the federal government’s surplus food program. In fact, the Monterey Food Bank built a 30,000 square foot cold storage facility a couple of years ago. Kendrick admits that the main goal is to feed people who are hungry and her team accomplishes that task in any way it can. But fresh food is a vital element in that program as it provides good nutrition along with needed calories. Kendrick said 2020 has been a very difficult year and it has been challenging to keep up with the need, especially as fresh donations have waned a bit. The Monterey Food Bank executive is quick to avoid the blame game. The entire nation was hit hard by the coronavirus, including both Monterey County growers and county residents. The restrictions caused by the pandemic hit just as growers were beginning their spring/summer season and still planting field after field of fresh vegetables. Orders from the foodservice industry literally ceased overnight. While that could have meant a rash of donations if the season was a little bit further along, instead it resulted in fewer acres being planted moving forward and grower-shippers scrambling to salvage some returns on their already-harvested crops. It also meant the plowing up of some fields meant for foodservice as growers did not want to sink more dollars into a field that could not be harvested. That meant less surplus produce this past season. As the Monterey Food Bank saw a tremendous increase in the number of people who needed help it also saw a significant drop in its fresh food donations. “We love our growers and couldn’t operate without them,” said Kendrick. “Unfortunately, this has been a very difficult year. And now that we are moving into winter, there will be more unemployed people and a greater need.” Though there has been a drop in overall fresh produce donations, and for good reason, Kendrick does note that many Salinas Valley food bank partners continue to send over donations every day. She specifically mentioned some of the larger firms that
ArizonaWestern College students harvesting food from the school’s ag plots, which was then sent to the Yuma Community Food Bank
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NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2020
Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com
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