The pandemic is making it harder for families to put food on the table.
In the Kansas City area, pre-pandemic, 300 thousand people were at risk for hunger. But that number is now up by 100 thousand people. That includes 1 and 4 children.
Food distribution rates from hunger relief organizations like Harvesters are up 2 million pounds from this time last year.
And social service agencies like Crosslines Community Outreach in Kansas City, Kansas have doubled the amount of households they are serving at their pantry.
"I think there's a lot of people that are feeling kind of helpless during this time," says Sarah Kaldenberg who is the Commodities and Garden Manager at Crosslines.
But she says, "I think gleaning is kind of a way to say like there are solutions. There's actually food in our country to feed these people."
Gleaning, the process of harvesting leftover crops, has been around as long as agriculture has. Maybe a machine just didn't get to it. Maybe it didn't make enough economic sense to harvest it because of changing markets. Or maybe it was just too small or ugly to try to sell.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic increased food insecurity, gleaning groups like After The Harvest in Kansas City were doing this work a way to address food waste and hunger.
"It's kind of a no-brainer. It's a win-win across the board," says Zachary Callaway, an organizer for the group. But Callaway says that now, the need to glean is even more critical than before.
"Basically every pantry, every kitchen, every organization that we talk to has expressed that their client base has grown," he says.
And it's not just in Kansas City. According to Feeding America, 1 in 6 people may experience food insecurity in the U.S. this year. That number is up 17 million people compared to this time last year.
At Crosslines Community Outreach, the gleaned produce from After the Harvest is the main source of fresh produce they distribute to their clients.
Carrie Fayebrake visits the pantry regularly. She's homeless and says the food she regularly gets from here is a huge help.
"I eat a lot of things that's in the wilderness," says Fayebrake.
When an intern at Crosslines asks Fayebrake what she likes about coming to this particular pantry she replies, "You guys have the vegetables."
Fayebrake's pack is stuffed full with tomatoes and carrots. She has a watermelon and a plastic bag full of peppers that After The Harvest volunteers and Zachary Callaway gleaned just the day before from Rich Kraft's farm near Kearney, Missouri.
"They'll take a pepper that had a little worm hole in it, or it had an imperfection. And they'll take that and thank you for it and away you go," Kraft says of the volunteers.
Rich Kraft gave up on trying to make money on his small, imperfect peppers years ago. He says offering his crop up to be gleaned gets at the root of what growing food is really all about for him.
"Instead of just throwing it away, they'll actually take it and eat it. And that's pretty cool, I like that," says Kraft.
After The Harvest has already gleaned more than 800,000 pounds of produce this year, including Rich Kraft's peppers. They say as long as there's extra produce out there, and hungry people, there's gleaning to be done.
