Gleaning Provides Fresh Produce for Families in Need

Fresh produce is an important part of the food we share with families. Food banks are working to distribute less canned and boxed foods high in fats and sodium and instead, focus on fresh fruits and vegetables. Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank (the Food Bank) is able to do this in large part thanks to our gleaning program.

Gleaning is a form of food rescue which allows farmers to invite Food Bank staff and volunteers to pick produce out of their fields. This produce is gathered after the farm has completed their harvest in the field that would otherwise go to waste. Gleaning allows items like fresh sweet corn, tomatoes, squash, kale and peppers to make it to the plates of our neighbors.

The gleaning season often lasts from mid-June into November depending on the weather.

We are grateful that we can continue to work with our farm partners to rescue high value produce and provide families in need with nutritionally rich food, even if how we go about it looks different this year. Over the past three years, we have worked with about a dozen farms through our gleaning program including:

• Apple Castle
• Dave Jones Farm
• Dillner Family Farms, LLC
• Greenawalt Farm
• Harvest Valley Farms
• Lisowski Farm
• Shenot Farm
• Soergel Orchards
• Trax Farms
• Triple B Farms
• Villa Maria Farm
• Wexford Farms