Hancock County Gleaning Initiative

Hancock County Gleaning Initiative

Summary

The Gleaning Initiative was founded in 2013 as a food security project seeking to strengthen relationships between local farms and food pantries through on-farm volunteer-powered food recovery efforts. During this time data was collected by our Gleaning Coordinator that reflected a need to frame the Gleaning Initiative as a surplus management service for our partnering farms. Since May 2014 The Gleaning Initiative has recovered 30,000lbs of produce (a 33% increase from 2013); partnered with 22 farms and 100 volunteers; has been working to support local farms with marketing, transportation and labor to place seconds and surplus within the organizations of the Hancock County Food Security Network; and has worked with Cyon Business Solutions to provide on-farm resource-based consulting to three farms.

Objectives/Performance Targets

A needs assessment was conducted with three farms to gather some soft data about what each farm was interested in pursuing regarding the opportunity to receive on-farm resource-based consulting. Currently data from three farms are being analyzed and turned into individualized reports with specific recommendation to increase farm productivity.

In partnership with Healthy Acadia, CYON Business Solutions spent a total of 30hrs providing on-farm resource-based consulting to these three farms, and has developed three reports with specific recommendations for farm improvement. This included the first steps of an efficiency analysis looking at cost reduction, process optimization, and overall production volume. North Branch Farm was selected for a Labor Analysis to determine a strategy to increase the efficiency of their labor model, Star Root Farm was selected for a Production Analysis to improve overall production costs and pricing models, and King Hill Farm was selected for an Infrastructure Project to improve the layout and design of processing infrastructure.

Accomplishments/Milestones

• May 1 – June 15, 2014- Needs assessments were conducted with three farms: Star Root Farm, King Hill Farm and North Branch Farm.
• May 1 – December 31, 2014- The Gleaning Initiative recovered 30,000lbs of food for food security organizations and engaged 22 farms, measured economic return from 9 farms and consulted directly with 3 farms.
• June 1 – December 9, 2014- 30 new gleaning volunteers were engaged.
• December 9, 2014- Volunteers were invited to a volunteer appreciation celebration and participated in a strategic meeting about the gleaning initiative and the 2015 growing season.
• June 15 – December 6, 2014- On-farm resource-based consulting visits by CYON Business Solutions averaged 10hrs/farm at Star Root Farm, King Hill Farm and North Branch Farm.
• September 1 – October 16, 2014- With our support, Good Shepherd Food Bank’s “Mainers Feeding Mainers” Program entered into partnership with three new farms; Star Root Farm, Beech Hill Farm and Mandala Farm, providing a total of $3,000 for local food pantries to receive fresh produce from these farms.
• November 1 – December 31, 2014- Each farm that received 10hrs of consulting from CYON Business Solutions will be presented with a report containing specific recommendations on how to increase overall farm productivity based on the specific efficiency analysis problem and solution the farmers, Healthy Acadia and CYON Business Solutions set out to solve.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Star Root Farm’s efficiency analysis indicated that the price points used under the bulk CSA model do not accurately reflect cost of production. An increase in prices, diversifying revenue streams, and increasing efficiency should be performed for the overall sustainability of the farm.

Through diagramming of King Hill Farm work flow, a lack of efficiency of the farm infrastructure for wash and pack was identified, vegetable processing and throughput and multiple risk factors for food safety and loss of efficiency were identified, and recommendations for a new pack house design that incorporated food safety measures and increases efficiency of the workflow model.

North Branch identified labor inefficiencies as a principal barrier of production, through analyzing other farm labor models a new labor management plan will be documented, consistent and easily communicated to farm staff and other workers. A crop efficiency analysis of onions identified true cost of labor for their most labor intensive crop.

CYON Business Solutions is completing an analysis for contributive costs for economic value of Healthy Acadia’s impact on local farms. That value will include hard numbers for contributive costs, and it will include a quantification of the social impact in terms of education, community connection to local food, and getting farms names out into the community.

The Gleaning Initiative is currently analyzing how the work with 22 different farms, 9 of which demonstrated specific economic impact, indicates that if the capacity was expanded to serve more local farms, the gleaning activities of surplus management and seconds distribution could result in an increase in economic return for the overall local food economy. In the final reporting we will have a total impact number of income generated through gleaning activities and surplus management.

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