Funviralpark BEND, Oregon (KTVZ) — In 2022, the Hi-Desert Food & Farm Alliance team achieved their annual goal of raising 15,000 pounds of local produce for food pantries and hunger relief organizations in Central Oregon. With the support of our volunteer community, HDFFA exceeded this goal by continuing to collect fresh produce from local farms and markets, ending the season with a total of 26,397 pounds of local produce.
Through HDFFA’s fresh food drive program, Grow & Give (www.hdffa.org/growandgive), Central Oregon farmers, gardeners, and community members can access high-demand and hard-to-find nutritious foods in local foods. You can donate locally grown food. pantry. The program has been in place since 2016 and all donated produce is distributed to his 55+ Food Access Agencies in Central Oregon through the NeighborImpact Food Bank.
Since 2016, HDFFA has collected 130,000 pounds of produce from farmers in Central Oregon. That’s enough food for 108,000 meals for people experiencing food insecurity in communities in Central Oregon.
HDFFA is grateful for the dedication and hard work of the 20 farmers and nonprofits who donated to the program this year, as well as the volunteers who participated in harvest events on their farms and collected produce from their fields. This is his second-highest collection in a single season since the program began in 2016.
Grow & Give wouldn’t be possible without Central Oregon farmers. Here are his HDFFA partner farmers who contributed to his Grow & Give in 2022:
4 Acre Farm
endless farm
Central Oregon Veterans Ranch
Casad Family Farms
plow the farm
Deschutes Canyon Garlic
fibonacci farm
fields farm
rain shadow organics
looper ranch
Seed to table
stump farm
sunny farm
well-rooted farm
Whispering Prayer Ranch
The Jack Farms
In 2020, HDFFA began paying farm partners for perishable food donations as a way to offset economic and market losses due to COVID-19. In 2021, HDFFA decided to make these redemptions a permanent part of Grow & Give. Thanks to funding from the Deschutes County ARPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the HDFFA has been able to increase wholesale reimbursement prices to account for changes in the market, giving farmers 10% more per pound of produce donated to Grow & Give. provided to Eleven HDFFA farm partners have opted to receive a total of $22,530 in reimbursement for their Grow & Give donations this year.
For more information on how to become an HDFFA farm partner in 2023, please visit the HDFFA website (https://hdffa.org/join-our-network/).
Thank you to our partners, funders and volunteers for making this program possible. Funding for HDFFA’s Grow & Give program is supported by Community Food Projects Grant #2021-33800-35848 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Northwest Farm Credit Services, The Roundhouse Foundation, Deschutes County Discretionary Grant Program.
Want to volunteer with Grow & Give in 2023? Visit hdffa.org/volunteer to find out how.
