Earth Day: Ensuring California’s Bounty isn’t Wasted

More than ever, Earth Day is a time to reflect on ways we can give back to an Earth that provides the foods that nourish our bodies and define our cultures. On this day, we must rightfully shout out the CAFB Farm to Family program, which works to build a diverse, sustainable, and charitable food system. 

California produces nearly half of the nation’s fruits and vegetables, yet hunger impacts 1 in 5 Californians. We believe that a critical step towards ending hunger in California begins with ensuring that California’s fruits and vegetables are not wasted but rather equitably distributed across our state and beyond. The Farm to Family program, together with our farming partners and dedicated truckers, ensures that quality produce – that might otherwise go unused – goes to those who need it most.

How Does Farm to Family Work?

Since 2005, our Farm to Family program has built collaborative relationships with farmers, packers, distributors, and freight carriers throughout California to distribute donated food to food banks. In 2022, Farm to Family had a record-breaking year:

• 240M pounds of fresh produce, proteins, and pantry essentials delivered to food banks (the previous year being 212 pounds!)
• Worked with 74 agricultural partners spanning 23 counties in California
• 5,725 truckloads of food delivered to food banks

Distributing farm-fresh fruits and vegetables requires significant cold storage capacity, costly freight, and timely distribution. Looking ahead, we are working to remove barriers for our smaller and more rural food banks that struggle to consistently distribute large quantities of fresh produce.

Earth Day is a moment to appreciate the world we have, visualize the world we want, and reflect on the role we play. We invite you to participate in the last leg of Farm to Family’s food recovery journey by exploring volunteer opportunities with our member food banks.

In community,

Your friends at CAFB