Volunteer Bounty Hunter rounding up apples
A community food gleaning program
Experts tell us that as much as 47% of food grown and produced in the U.S. ends up in the dump. Meanwhile, more and more families and seniors are going hungry and food insecure. This begs the question, “Why can’t more of this food go to the people who need it?
In biblical times, farmers were admonished to leave extra food crops, particularly from fruit trees and cornfields, for the poor and travelers. Throughout history, in many places gleaning was a right granted to the poorest by the rural community, allowing them to return to the fields at sunset to gather the ears of wheat left by the harvesters.
"The Gleaners" by Jean-François Millet
In these days of fast food, “efficient” high-tech agriculture, and rapid transit food distribution systems, you’d think that more food would make it to people’s mouths, and less to the trashcan. But it doesn’t. The number of undernourished and food insecure people continues to grow (even here in Petaluma), in pace with our overflowing landfills.
Enter the modern food gleaning movement. As communities are becoming aware of the vast quantities of good food going to waste, food gleaning programs are sprouting up in many places.
Gleaning can be as simple as a few individuals harvesting their backyard fruit trees and delivering their fresh fruit to a neighbor or a local food pantry, or as complex as a statewide network of non-profits serving tens of thousands of low-income households with farm-picked, packaged or prepared food (and even firewood). In addition to connecting good food to people who need it, folks are discovering that gleaning helps to connect neighbors to neighbor, to increase awareness of the potential bounty of local food systems, and to foster a greater sense of community.
One common question concerns liability (in the event gleaned food goes bad or makes someone sick). Of course, the most important thing is to make sure that the food you’re picking up is fresh and came from a reliable source. This issue was addressed at the national level with the passage of the “Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Law” (HR2428) in the mid 1990’s. This law limits the liability of the donor/gleaner for food donated in good faith for free distribution by charitable groups. Protection is also provided for farmers who allows “gleaners” to collect from their fields.
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