New Farm Partnership Doubles Fresh Produce Distribution

Charity Food Ministry has entered into a produce partnership with two local Chester County farms that will add roughly 1,000 additional pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to our distributions every month. The agreement effectively doubles the amount of fresh produce we are able to place in our neighbors' hands.

From Field Surplus to Family Tables

Every growing season produces food that never reaches a grocery store. A crop comes in heavier than a buyer ordered, or the vegetables are perfectly good but sized or shaped outside retail specifications. Historically, much of that harvest was tilled back into the field.

Under this partnership, our volunteers collect that surplus directly from the farms on a scheduled pickup, sort it the same day, and move it into distribution within 48 hours. Nothing sits waiting. The result is produce that reaches families at close to peak freshness, and two farms that see their harvest feed their own community instead of going to waste.

What Families Will Receive

The specific mix shifts with the season, which is part of what makes the program valuable. Depending on the month, distributions now include collards and other leafy greens, sweet potatoes, squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, beans, and melons — food that rarely appears in emergency food supply at any meaningful volume.

"For a long time, the hardest thing to give a family was something that grew in the ground," said Sandra Johnson, Program Director. "We could always find canned goods. Fresh vegetables were the gap. This partnership closes it, and it does it with food grown a few miles from where it's eaten."

A Two-Way Partnership

The arrangement is intentionally built to serve the farms as well. Coordinated pickups mean growers do not have to arrange transport or find a buyer on short notice, and their donated harvest is documented for charitable contribution purposes. Both farms are family operations that have worked this land for generations, and both approached the collaboration as neighbors rather than donors.

Handling this volume required real capacity on our side: additional cold storage, sturdier sorting tables, and a dedicated volunteer produce crew trained to grade, clean, and pack quickly. That team is now one of our most active shifts.

Growing the Program

We are actively seeking additional growers, community gardens, and backyard gardeners with surplus to contribute. We are equally in need of support for the unglamorous parts that make fresh food possible — refrigeration, transport fuel, and produce boxes.

• Farms and community gardens can arrange a scheduled surplus pickup
• Volunteers are needed for the weekly produce sorting and packing crew
• Donations fund cold storage, fuel for farm runs, and produce containers
• Backyard gardeners are welcome to drop off extra harvest during distribution hours

To discuss a produce partnership or join the sorting crew, contact us at admin@charityfoodministry.org, or read more about our approach on the blog.