Farm to Food Bank Program (VIDEO)

At the Maryland Food Bank, we know that better nutrition means better health. That’s why, with the help of farmers like Steve, we’re committed to delivering millions of pounds of fresh produce annually through our Farm to Food Bank Program.”Hunger does not discriminate, we want to see people having healthy options for their meals” – Steve of Mason’s Heritage Farms.

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Video Transcription

Steve
Hunger does not discriminate. What we want to see is people with healthy options for there meals.

Farming means a great deal to me, it’s how I grew up.

Farming is not just five days a week, it’s every day when things need to get done. It takes a whole community, It takes a whole family, to run a farm.

I farm with my father-in-law and my wife here at our produce stand and our organic grain farm here in Queen Anne’s County Maryland.

There are people out there who need to eat and when finding food, or enough food, to eat is one of the major parts of their day. It is something that consumes them and it’s something people should not have to go through.

There were some families down the road that I knew, some kids my age who never got enough to eat and my parents in their giving nature always donating money to the food bank and some of our own food from the garden, always carried through with me to this day.

Amy
Steve and I met several years ago at an organic vegetable growers meeting. He came up to me and talked to me about how he had sweet corn that he was occasionally leaving behind in his field. That he would love to have gleaners come out and harvest.

Farmers will call me when they have excess that they have on the farm for us to pick up and the food bank truck will go pick it up.

Steve
The food coordinator makes it simple, she will get the bins delivered with the pallets and the next day it’s picked up.

Dealing with food waste is a major problem in this country where We have 1/3 of our food going to waste every day, yet we still have people that are hungry in this country. Finding a way to shore up that need, to shore up those hungry mouths and families is paramount to what the food bank stands for.

Amy
Produce is important because it probably provides more nutrients than most of the sources of food we get.

Steve
Fresh produce rather than canned food or fast food or processed food. Makes a world of difference because it is fresh, it is unadulterated and it’s much healthier that way for the people who are consuming it.

Amy
Farmers like Steve are the backbone of this program. So to be able to get more nutritious food into the food bank, it starts here on the farm.

Steve
What we can do as farmers, is take the skills we already have to earn a living and to take any extra that we know we do have and spread it out amongst people who need it themselves.