2 thoughts on “BAG’s Surplus Commodity Crop Program”
The Surplus Commodity Crop Program is a new program in which the Boston Area Gleaners serve as a liaison between local farms with surplus produce and food banks with strong spending power. Food banks typically receive multiple pallets of donated non-perishable foods from large corporations each day. However, when it comes to fresh produce, the banks resort to purchasing this food at wholesale prices from large farms, contributing to the proportionally lower numbers of healthy fruits and vegetables offered to end users at food pantries. In the past, BAG has helped increase these amounts of healthy foods by donating to the food banks at our regular service fees. Knowing that the food bank only utilizes our services when we have a large quantity of a single product and that the food banks are typically willing to spend their relatively high per pound cost of produce, we thought of a way to leverage their power in order to help give back to the local farmers donating this food in a more substantial way.
We bartered with the food banks to increase the service charge they spend per pound on the food we donate to them, pocketing the same small fee’s worth for the work we did, and handing back the additional funds to the farmers growing the crops. With this program we can help farmers meet their bottom lines and we can contribute to the success of local farms. Moreover, this program helps us sustain and improve relationships with the farmers who constantly allow us to access their farms to carry out the work we do.
I have two big questions about the impact of this program. First, I think it would be helpful to understand the way this program impacts the food banks and does or does not contribute to issues of food insecurity. Specifically, as food banks purchase our cheaper, quality produce, where do their savings go to? Are they purchasing more fresh food? Or are they just allowing the cheaper price to help them elsewhere in their budget.
My next question has to do with the impact on food waste as it relates to our mission statement. If some farmers are beginning to be more relaxed about growing extra food, or even deliberately begin planting extra for the sole purpose of selling to this program, will expanding the SCCP diminish our organization’s impact on food waste? There have been articles criticizing Imperfect Produce and markets of its kind, so I feel like understanding the distinctions of these two programs is important.
The Surplus Commodity Crop Program is an innovative project that harness’s BAG’s unique position in the food system in order to benefit farmers and food banks, as well as generate some earned revenue. The program is a win-win-win. I’ll break it down into each “win” to explain it:
SCCP is a win for farmers:
As a crop comes into season, the supply in the market increases and so the price decreases. If the price drops below a farmer’s break-even point (the point at which the sale price is equal to the cost of growing and labor and storage), then it doesn’t make sense for a farmer to harvest and sell their crop, because they will lose money. The SCCP operates in this niche in the market. When the price is too low for a farmer to make a profit, BAG can come in and harvest the crop ourselves, with the help of volunteers of course. By removing the labor and storage costs, we’ve lowered the farmer’s break-even point. We pay the farmer an access fee for allowing us to use their fields, and even though the access fee is lower than the market value of the crop, the farmer still turns a profit because of their reduced costs.
SCCP is a win for food banks:
Food banks have a portion of their budget allocated for purchasing fresh produce. Typically, they spend that budget purchasing non-local produce that must be shipped in. BAG is able to provide the locally-grown commodity crops to food banks, only charging a service fee to help offset some of the cost of storage and distribution. So, the food bank receives locally grown produce that is fresher and of higher quality, as well as significantly lower in cost, compared to what they would normally get. This allows them to stretch their produce budgets further, and purchase more fruits and vegetables.
SCCP is a win for BAG:
BAG is able to generate some earned revenue through the SCCP. Because of our wonderful volunteer harvesters, we are able to provide income to farmers and provide produce to food banks at a reduced cost, and still generate some revenue to help cover a portion of our storage and distribution costs. While we are by no means making a profit from this program, brining in some revenue allows us to stretch our budget further as well. The program also helps us to strengthen our relationships with both our partner farmers and our partner food banks.
I would also like to add two other “win”s to the mix: I believe this program is a win for the environment and a win for the end recipients of the produce. Growing crops takes a lot of resources, and so harvesting them and getting them out to people who will eat them, rather than abandoning them because they are too expensive to harvest, means that those resources will not go to waste. In addition, when food banks purchase locally grown produce that does not have to be transported very far, the amount of fossil fuels used to cool and transport the produce is significantly reduced. Finally, The end recipients of this produce are receiving produce that is fresher and more nutritious.
In conclusion, the Surplus Commodity Crop Program takes advantage of BAG’s unique position in the food system in order to benefit all stakeholders.
Boston Area Gleaners
The Surplus Commodity Crop Program is a new program in which the Boston Area Gleaners serve as a liaison between local farms with surplus produce and food banks with strong spending power. Food banks typically receive multiple pallets of donated non-perishable foods from large corporations each day. However, when it comes to fresh produce, the banks resort to purchasing this food at wholesale prices from large farms, contributing to the proportionally lower numbers of healthy fruits and vegetables offered to end users at food pantries. In the past, BAG has helped increase these amounts of healthy foods by donating to the food banks at our regular service fees. Knowing that the food bank only utilizes our services when we have a large quantity of a single product and that the food banks are typically willing to spend their relatively high per pound cost of produce, we thought of a way to leverage their power in order to help give back to the local farmers donating this food in a more substantial way.
We bartered with the food banks to increase the service charge they spend per pound on the food we donate to them, pocketing the same small fee’s worth for the work we did, and handing back the additional funds to the farmers growing the crops. With this program we can help farmers meet their bottom lines and we can contribute to the success of local farms. Moreover, this program helps us sustain and improve relationships with the farmers who constantly allow us to access their farms to carry out the work we do.
I have two big questions about the impact of this program. First, I think it would be helpful to understand the way this program impacts the food banks and does or does not contribute to issues of food insecurity. Specifically, as food banks purchase our cheaper, quality produce, where do their savings go to? Are they purchasing more fresh food? Or are they just allowing the cheaper price to help them elsewhere in their budget.
My next question has to do with the impact on food waste as it relates to our mission statement. If some farmers are beginning to be more relaxed about growing extra food, or even deliberately begin planting extra for the sole purpose of selling to this program, will expanding the SCCP diminish our organization’s impact on food waste? There have been articles criticizing Imperfect Produce and markets of its kind, so I feel like understanding the distinctions of these two programs is important.
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The Surplus Commodity Crop Program is an innovative project that harness’s BAG’s unique position in the food system in order to benefit farmers and food banks, as well as generate some earned revenue. The program is a win-win-win. I’ll break it down into each “win” to explain it:
SCCP is a win for farmers:
As a crop comes into season, the supply in the market increases and so the price decreases. If the price drops below a farmer’s break-even point (the point at which the sale price is equal to the cost of growing and labor and storage), then it doesn’t make sense for a farmer to harvest and sell their crop, because they will lose money. The SCCP operates in this niche in the market. When the price is too low for a farmer to make a profit, BAG can come in and harvest the crop ourselves, with the help of volunteers of course. By removing the labor and storage costs, we’ve lowered the farmer’s break-even point. We pay the farmer an access fee for allowing us to use their fields, and even though the access fee is lower than the market value of the crop, the farmer still turns a profit because of their reduced costs.
SCCP is a win for food banks:
Food banks have a portion of their budget allocated for purchasing fresh produce. Typically, they spend that budget purchasing non-local produce that must be shipped in. BAG is able to provide the locally-grown commodity crops to food banks, only charging a service fee to help offset some of the cost of storage and distribution. So, the food bank receives locally grown produce that is fresher and of higher quality, as well as significantly lower in cost, compared to what they would normally get. This allows them to stretch their produce budgets further, and purchase more fruits and vegetables.
SCCP is a win for BAG:
BAG is able to generate some earned revenue through the SCCP. Because of our wonderful volunteer harvesters, we are able to provide income to farmers and provide produce to food banks at a reduced cost, and still generate some revenue to help cover a portion of our storage and distribution costs. While we are by no means making a profit from this program, brining in some revenue allows us to stretch our budget further as well. The program also helps us to strengthen our relationships with both our partner farmers and our partner food banks.
I would also like to add two other “win”s to the mix: I believe this program is a win for the environment and a win for the end recipients of the produce. Growing crops takes a lot of resources, and so harvesting them and getting them out to people who will eat them, rather than abandoning them because they are too expensive to harvest, means that those resources will not go to waste. In addition, when food banks purchase locally grown produce that does not have to be transported very far, the amount of fossil fuels used to cool and transport the produce is significantly reduced. Finally, The end recipients of this produce are receiving produce that is fresher and more nutritious.
In conclusion, the Surplus Commodity Crop Program takes advantage of BAG’s unique position in the food system in order to benefit all stakeholders.
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