Salvation Farms is a Morrisville-based nonprofit, who’s mission serves to create resiliency in local food systems here in Vermont and to build strategies to manage surplus food generated by the state’s farmers. This work is achieved through creating partnerships that help sites like food shelves, senior meal programs, and Vermont’s prison meals make use of surplus food produced by local farms. Last year, Salvation Farms moved nearly 250,000 servings of local produce from 47 farms, distributing these crops to more than 50 food programs in Vermont. Without Salvation Farms services, this food would have remained on Vermont farms uneaten and inaccessible to Vermont communities.
Join Salvation Farms for an afternoon of discussion, drinks, and edible delights on Friday, February 24, 4 to 6 p.m., at Barrie Fisher’s Studio in Waitsfield. Come out and enjoy samples from Mad River Distillers, Lawson’s Finest Liquids, and treats from the Taste Place. Socialize, enjoy a presentation from Theresa Snow about the work of Salvation Farms, enter a raffle to win a prize and pick up a bumper sticker or two. Space is limited, RSVP to
Salvation Farms, established almost 20 years ago as a gleaning organization has evolved its approach to include large-scale cleaning and packing of surplus crops, production of frozen food, and workforce training to individuals in transition. The organization has convened conversations across Vermont, providing leadership and bringing attention to the opportunity that exists to increase local food consumption by putting to use the estimated 14.3 million pounds of surplus produce generated by Vermont farms each year. This estimate resulted from Salvation Farms led research, the first in the nation statewide study to understand annual amounts of food loss on farms in our small state.
“In a time when we are witnessing breakdown in global supply chains, disruption in the delivery of food to local outlets from sources far from Vermont, and the increasing impact of climate instability – it is critically important that Vermont reinvest energy and interest to use as much of what we have here to meet our basic needs. Vermont farms are cornerstones of a stable future. We must learn how to support and depend on them more. That is why Salvation Farms exists,” says Theresa Snow, Salvation Farms’ founder and executive director.
For more information about Salvation Farms, visit www.salvationfarms.org.
