Trimming the Fat

Small growers and food pantries
Apps notwithstanding, Gary Oppenheimer, founder of AmpleHarvest.org, thinks the solution lies in a program that allows people—specifically home and community gardeners—to donate their food on a national scale. In 2009 he built a program to tell people where to donate, and since 35 percent of American households have gardens, he focused on them and their excess produce.

“We have the gardeners, we have the food pantries and soup kitchens, and we have the Internet,” he says. “These are the three pieces of infrastructure we have across the United States. Pantries didn’t know they could handle it, and neither did gardeners. Now we can change the way that 42 million gardeners behave.”

At last count, AmpleHarvest.org was working with more than 7,189 food pantries across the country, about 20 percent of the nation’s total. The organization uses scalable technology to log just-in-time inventory. Pantries can then tell growers with excess produce when and where to drop it off. AmpleHarvest.org doesn’t pack, ship, or refrigerate the food, but it does aim to share fresh food with those who need it most.

The Last Word
As with many of today’s most vexing issues, it is important to rally the next generation and work toward a solution. In the case of food waste, the next generation is already on board, and in many cases, leading the charge.

In turn, as millennials teach their own children about the benefits of fresh fruit and vegetables—be they perfect, blemished, or oddly shaped—this younger generation will hopefully live in a world of far less waste from field to fork.