Gleaning Fields in Salinas Valley
The Salinas Valley is one of the agricultural "breadbaskets" of this country. Its immensely rich agricultural fields produce hundreds of thousands of tons of fruits and vegetables that are shipped across the country and around the world. Yet even in this breadbasket, there is hunger. One of the most diverse projects to distribute surplus food to the hungry involves gleaning crops from fields after commercial harvesting is finished, crops that would ordinarily be tilled under in preparation for the next planting. The gleaned produce is collected and distributed to the needy by a large network of volunteers. Some of these volunteers come from farm families who have picked and gleaned their whole lives; others have never walked down a crop row before.
Gleaning is not a right in California, as it is in much of Europe. Legal gleaning requires the cooperation of field owners. Commercial growers must prevent unauthorized access to their fields to escape a range of liabilities. Recent Salmonella and E. coli contaminations of leaf vegetables have reinforced growers' need to enforce strict safety standards (e.g., hair nets, sterilized gloves and knives, no water or food in the fields) on gleaners and paid harvesters alike.
While illegal gleaning occurs and is highly contentious, most of the gleaning in the Salinas Valley is done in cooperation with some of the larger growers, through the growers' group Ag Against Hunger. These growers also distribute annually over 10 million pounds of surplus commercially harvested produce to food banks and other programs locally, in the state, and throughout the region. But even after commercial harvesting, usable produce remains in the fields. This is the target of our gleaners. While miniscule in comparison with the amount of marketed produce and small even in comparison with surplus harvested crops, the gleaners salvage over 120,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables each year and distribute this food directly to the needy.
The Law on Gleaning
Field owners and gleaners bear certain liabilities under law. Field owners must protect the safety of gleaners as well as the safety of their fields. Gleaners must protect the safety of food donated to food banks. Law relating to agricultural and food safety, as well as Good Samaritan laws, can be complex. more ...
See also: Waste
Partially Funded by the California Council for the Humanities, UC Santa Cruz, and INTA - TrainingWeal.