Vermont’s Congressional Representative Balint visits Farm Surplus Management Effort in Northern Vermont
On Wednesday, January 24th, Salvation Farms was joined by Vermont’s Congresswoman Becca Balint for an informational meeting. The organization’s Executive Director, Theresa Snow, Clearinghouse Director, Tony Risitano and two of its Board members spent a little more than an hour with the Congresswoman.
The meeting was hosted by the Center for an Agricultural Economy at their Vermont Food Venture Center in Hardwick, where Salvation Farms is a frequent renter of their commercial kitchen space to produce minimally processed, frozen food from surplus vegetables that Vermont farms have no market for. After a conversation to learn more about Salvation Farms mission, vision, and work, Representative Balint received a short tour of the Vermont Food Venture Center and then joined Salvation Farms staff and volunteers in the kitchen to prepare some locally-grown, surplus carrots for a quick blanch prior to freezing and bagging.
The carrots being processed on this day were donated by Pete’s Greens, as they were not destined for any paying market. Once frozen, they will be stored and eventually distributed to food shelves and senior meal programs in the Lamoille Valley and Northeast Kingdom.
Salvation Farms mission is unique in Vermont, looking to address local food supply chain gaps by using edible food that Vermont farms lack markets for. The organization captures large volumes of donated, locally-raised food which they provide to charitable food programs. They also purchase farm surplus, increasing access into paying markets like prisons and schools for Vermont’s farmers. They’ve been a leader in the work to make good use of edible farm surplus food since their start in the mid-2000’s – developing program models for replication, conducting research, and providing a service to farms that helps more people in Vermont eat locally.
For more information about Vermont’s Congresswoman Becca Balint, visit: https://balint.house.gov/
For more information about Salvation Farms, visit: www.salvationfarms.org