Californians are saving excess produce to fight hunger

The day at the Pit Stop camp in Bell, California begins at 4 a.m. Forklifts transport pallets of tomatoes, broccoli and peppers into trucks. Crates of grapes and bananas wait to be loaded while trucks arrive with an abundance of zucchini and nectarines. The 10,000-square-foot warehouse looks like organized chaos: A dozen employees move an average of 265,000 pounds, or 132 tons, every day. “Share the Abundance” is written in bright blue letters on a yellow wall. Best of all, all of this healthy goodness is free. The non-profit Eating forward receives the fruit and vegetables free of charge from wholesalers and donates them to those in need in 13 districts.

“As we focus 100 percent on perishable fresh fruits and vegetables, speed is critical,” says Jen Cox, Food Forward’s chief development officer. “Hardly any goods stay here longer than 24 hours. The logistics are crazy.”

In the USA more than 35 percent of the food produced (approx 92 billion pounds) is thrown away every year, resulting in an annual loss of $408 billion. At the same time, one in five families is affected by food insecurity. Food Forward aims to bridge this gap and solve both problems simultaneously by working to distribute fresh food before it goes to waste.

Since its founding 15 years ago, it has rescued and distributed 217,000 tons of food to nearly 300 hunger relief partners, mostly in Los Angeles and surrounding counties, but every now and then a truck with surplus makes its way as far as Texas. “We provide enough food every day to meet the USDA recommended daily needs of 270,000 people,” explains Cox. “That equates to millions of dollars worth of food that they won’t have to buy if we can just get it and transport it in a timely manner.”

Preventing food waste also benefits the climate, not only because of the resources, water and energy invested in food production, but also because food waste in landfills is a major source of the greenhouse gas methane. “Last year we prevented the emission of more than 21,000 tonnes of CO2e,” says Cox. “That’s the equivalent of taking 4,571 cars offline for a year. And we prevented 1.4 billion gallons of water, the size of 2,129 Olympic-sized swimming pools, from being wasted in 2023.”

The mountains of food that Food Forward moves are especially remarkable considering that the nonprofit began as one man's simple, local idea. In 2009 the photographer Rick Nahmias He was walking through his neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley and noticed many citrus trees full of ripe fruit. “What if this food could do more than end up in the trash?” he asked himself. “Could it help feed people who are struggling right now?” He posted an ad on Craigslist to find helpers, and of the eight people who responded, one actually showed up.

Over the next three weekends, Nahmias, friends and volunteers harvested over 800 pounds of unwanted tangerines and oranges and donated all of it to local food pantries.

This was the beginning of Backyard Harvest, a coordinated, volunteer-driven harvest effort that continues today as part of Food Forward. Nahmias, now founding CEO of Food Forward, says, “It feels good to help people and build community, but it’s also just fun.”

In the first year, volunteers picked 100,000 pounds of fruit from orchards and donated it all. Six thousand six hundred backyard and orchard owners are registered with Food Forward, giving permission to collect their crops when they are ripe.

In 2011, Food Forward began picking up unsold food from vendors at the Santa Monica Farmers Market and eventually added 16 additional farmers markets to its Farmer's Market Recovery Program. A single farmers market can generate a surplus of 2,000 pounds.

By expanding into wholesale in 2014 and adding cold storage in Bell in 2019, Food Forward was able to multiply the amount of processed fruits and vegetables. The Los Angeles wholesale market is the largest in the country, and Food Forward rescued four million tons of produce from it in its first year.

“It's a win-win because otherwise the wholesalers would have to pay to get rid of it,” Cox explains, “so we're helping them but also feeding the people.”

From humble backyard beginnings, it grew into an organization with 53 full-time employees and nearly 1,300 volunteers, five box trucks and a 53-foot electric Volvo tractor-trailer. With a budget of $6.3 million last year and just over $8 million this year, Food Forward is able to provide fresh produce at a cost of $0.07 per pound, although none the recipient pays a cent for it.

“We try to get food that will last for several days,” Cox said, emphasizing that none of the food distributed is second-rate. “It could be that a product has been mislabeled and therefore cannot be sold in a store, which is more common than you think, or that there is a bumper crop, or that there is a truck with tomatoes on the way but the supermarket knows that he gets another one. “There's a truck with fresher tomatoes tomorrow, so we'll take it.” Success also comes from knowing which nonprofit organization can handle what. “Who wants a truckload of bok choy and who wants pomegranates?” Cox gives examples. “For smaller organizations, we often pack smaller bags with different products that they can easily distribute.”

Food Forward works with 300 local and regional nonprofits that distribute food to seniors, veterans, after-school programs, tribal lands and food-insecure families, primarily in LA County and occasional truckloads to other states. It was recognized by the White House earlier this year as part of the Biden-Harris administration's initiative to end hunger and has committed to collecting 100 million pounds of products by 2026, up from 87 million pounds last year.

While Food Forward is the largest company of its kind in California, nonprofits in other states have similar goals, for example City harvest in Brooklyn and Philadelphia PhilAbundanceas well as many smaller regional organizations.

“When we can’t carry a load, we try to reach out to other nonprofits,” Cox said. Surprisingly, the biggest challenge for Food Forward is not the lack of food, but logistics and infrastructure. “We often have more food available to us. “The hardest part for our employees is when we have to say no because our warehouse is already full or we’ve already accepted a truckload of tomatoes,” says Cox. “It is difficult to grasp the scope of the problem. We always want to find a way. What would it take to do more?”

Sometimes this means directing a donation to other states and shipping it as far as Texas, but most of the time the products benefit the people of Southern California. Smaller pantries often don't have refrigeration and are especially grateful for the addition of healthy greens to their staple foods.

“Every time we bring someone a salad or something fresh, they really light up – you can see it – and you know they're feeling better that day,” says Michael, a delivery driver for one of Food Forward's partners. Recipients include MEND (Meet Each Need with Dignity), Seeds of Hope, West Valley Food Pantry, Bernardi Multi-Purpose Service Center and more.

““Food Forward has helped us bring nutritious, fresh, whole foods to these communities that have had little access to it to begin with,” commented Yuri Mitzkewich, the international nonprofit’s program director Vegan public relations. “Even if they could get some, they would be priced out.”

Become a supporting member today!

Join the Reasons to be Cheerful community by supporting our nonprofit publication and donating what you can.

Connect

And Cari Golden, founder of Love kitchen in Los Angeles uses the products to prepare healthy meals for the homeless. “Without Food Forward, we wouldn’t have been able to provide a service,” she says. “Food Forward is the reason we can provide healthy meals to the homeless population on Skid Row.”

Food Forward's close partnerships recently expanded to reach even more children. Brighter bites works with schools to provide food and nutrition education to children and their families. Since 2023, Food Forward has been the primary source of products for this multi-faceted approach to health, nutrition and food access in 13 Los Angeles schools.

“Food Forward was a game changer for us,” says Lisa Helfman, co-founder of Brighter Bites. “Without them, we would not be able to serve the Los Angeles community.”