Program aims at reducing food waste

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — An Illinois-based pilot program has been launched that allows farmers and ranchers to offer products to non-profits for free or reduced prices.

The Donations and Discount Depot is sponsored by the Illinois Farm Bureau and provided online by MarketMaker in partnership with Food4All.

“Through the Donations and Discount forum, farmers can immediately post if they have uncontracted, unsold, excess or otherwise unwanted products that don’t have a home on the website at whatever rate that they want,” said Raghela Scavuzzo, Illinois Specialty Growers Association executive director and associate director of Food Systems Development for Illinois Farm Bureau.

“So, it doesn’t have to be free, but if it is, awesome, but if it’s not, it’s just a discounted rate and they explain what the discount is. This is exclusive to non-profit, so not just food banks, but also non-profits will be able to access this.

“Those that are looking for that food can now use that technology to directly connect with the farmers. The farmers can move that product that doesn’t have a home and those vulnerable communities can now easily and securely transact that.”

Nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted. According to Feeding America, food goes to waste at every stage of food production and distribution — from farmers to packers and shippers, from manufacturers to retailers to our homes.

Each year, 108 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States. That equates to 130 billion meals and more than $408 billion in food thrown away each year.

Scavuzzo said this is one of many ongoing efforts the ISGA has been working on and advocating for.

Farm To Food Bank

The association, along with Feeding Illinois, University of Illinois, IFB and Illinois Farmers Market Association, launched the pilot Farm to Food Bank Program in July 2021.

Over a four-month period, food banks purchased nearly 500,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables for five food banks spending over $250,000 with Illinois farmers.

“We’re really excited about the farm-to-food bank program. This provides the opportunity for farmers to recover some of their costs. The food banks are buying the products from the farmers at cost. These are seconds that don’t currently have markets and then going into vulnerable populations,” Scavuzzo said.

Illinois continues to see growth in farmers market vendors and customers.

“What’s amazing is Illinois has the third highest number of farmers markets in the country. We have almost 350 farmers markets within Illinois, and these are all across the state in rural and urban communities where we’re seeing this increased food access component,” Scavuzzo noted.

“But it’s also a great incubator site for our farms that are starting to just get started or for smaller farms. We have farms that go up to 12 farmers markets a week and others who have one community-based one.

“The economic value of going to a farmers market is huge because it’s a direct-to-consumer buy. So, the farmer gets 100% of the money back, but they also then buy some other things, because when you’re at the farmers market you’re also going to the coffee shop around the corner and going into those retail spaces. So, it’s a great place to drive economics in rural and urban communities.”

Next Generation

Scavuzzo said there’s also a trend of more farmers diversifying into specialty crops.

“We’re seeing that this as a good business model for bringing the next generation on to the farm. You don’t need as much land. You don’t need as much space. What we see is that we can reallocate a few acres to create a new revenue stream, create some stability and get a little bit more profitability out of your products because you have a little more control over what the prices are going to be,” she said.

“We aren’t working on commodity pricing. We’re not working on contracts. We’re working with what you feel is the cost of your product and what you can sell it for. This is really how we get the next generation in.

“We also see this with a lot of our young or new beginning farmers or urban agriculture because you don’t need the land space. You can put in a lot of fruits and vegetables on a half acre of land.”

Farm To School

The ISGA serves on the Illinois Farm to School collaborative that makes it easier for farms to connect with school lunch programs and move products through institutional buying.

One example of that success is at the Lincoln 27 Elementary School District in Lincoln that began in 2019.

“The Lincoln school district is setting trends here in Illinois. They are buying from local farmers, taking bids and doing scratch cooking in one of their kitchens and it goes to the other elementary schools. It’s had phenomenal success,” Scavuzzo said.

“I know that there’s a lot of interest in this. The Champaign school district just got a grant to hire a farm-to-school coordinator. The Peoria school district is also looking at programs like this.

“The idea of this is they can buy from not just our vegetable farmers, but also our protein farmers and work directly in the communities to make sure everyone knows where their food is coming from and supporting the local economy.”