Help Us Glean More Produce for Hunger Relief in CO

Our food system is a web of beauty and connectivity. Healthy soils create nutrient-dense food awash in an abundance of shapes, sizes, flavors and colors, all of which creates healthier minds and bodies and emotional well being.

The earth provides food and shepherds. Farmers and ranchers work with the natural elements to nourish us. Yet, 34 billion pounds of surplus food remains unharvested and unsold (and uneaten!) each year across farm fields in the U.S. Two main reasons for food never leaving the fields are the cosmetic standards imposed on produce by the retail sector and the current lack of available, skilled agricultural labor.

Our focus at UpRoot is the surplus produce here in Colorado. Our gleaning initiative harvests this life-sustaining resource and redistributes it onto the tables, and into the hands, of Colorado residents via our hunger-relief partners.

This year, we harvested and redistributed 56% more surplus food than in 2021. The number of gleaning events we held increased by more than 21% and our on-farm pick ups (whereby staff and volunteers pick up surplus produce that has already been harvested and deliver it to hunger-relief agencies) grew by nearly 62% compared with our efforts last year.

Our team—two full-time staff, four part-time staff, and a single paid intern—celebrated these accomplishments while also encountering a feeling we'd never experienced before: growing pains. Working across parts of 12 Colorado counties and hustling to harvest and distribute as much surplus food as possible is a wonderful responsibility. Our growing partner list of producers, volunteers, and hunger-relief agencies make it possible to move healthy food without a home into the homes (and hands) where it's needed most.

At the same time, we've seen more clearly what's possible within—and for—our Colorado foodshed at both the symptom and systems level: more surplus food recovered and redistributed, more healthy food equity and nutrition security for Colorado residents, more economic equity for Colorado producers, more community food wisdom, more engagement by our elected officials, and less wastefulness in our homes and businesses.

We are a village and we are connected, visibly and invisibly—our humanity, our traditions, our language, our air, water, and land all connect us. Here's to strengthening our food system and one another in 2023 and moving forward.

With gratitude and warmth, 

Rita, Abbey, Emma, Sierra, Marisa, and Dave