Salvation Farms

OUR MISSION

Salvation Farms’ mission is to build increased resilience in Vermont’s food system through agricultural surplus management.

OUR STORY

We achieve our mission by fostering collaborative, cross-sector partnerships that engage and utilize available resources, skills and knowledge to create efficient practices for managing Vermont’s farm surplus.

We are driven by three primary goals

1. Reduce food loss on farms.
2. Increase the use of locally grown foods.
3. Foster appreciation for Vermont’s agricultural heritage and future.

Salvation Farms is deeply rooted in the philosophy that farms are, were and always will be our salvation. Small, diversified farms are the cornerstones of healthy, wholesome and stable communities and cultures. We believe that the best way to build lasting change is to involve people in the process; this creates ownership and intrinsic value. Food, a common and essential resource, is an extremely effective tool for social change.  

Our History

After a pilot year Salvation Farms was established in 2005 under the fiscal umbrella of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont to build a replicable model for community-based gleaning. Gleaning is the act of reaping after the harvest, historically done by the poor. As a proof of concept, we were instrumental in instituting the Vermont Foodbank’s gleaning program and have advised most gleaning initiatives statewide. Since developing the practice of professional community-based gleaning more than nine years ago, Salvation Farms has assisted with the capture of more than 1.5 million pounds of Vermont’s surplus farm food. 

The Opportunity & Our Strategy

When we couple the 14.3 million pounds of food loss with Vermont’s 14% food insecurity rate or number of meals served in our schools daily (54,000) or hospitals annually (600,000), it is obvious that Salvation Farms can increase the consumption of healthy, regionally produced foods by our most vulnerable populations through creative, untapped partnerships.

Salvation Farms is committed to the efficient rescue and integration of Vermont’s farm surplus into food access points that serve some of our most vulnerable citizens; the young, the sick, the elderly, and the hungry. To achieve this end, we are developing the Vermont Gleaning Collective: a network of programs that actively engage community members in the responsible management of available farm-fresh food resources. This statewide collective will consist of food focused organizations committed to increasing our states food independence.

Our vision also includes the development of the Vermont Commodity Program. We know from experience that much of the farm surplus currently captured is lost prior to being utilized. We have developed partnerships with the for-profit food sector to help us move large volumes of surplus to sites where we can easily clean and pack raw surplus or create lightly processed frozen products for distribution to institutions that serve Vermont’s vulnerable.

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Click on the blue Donate Button to select the monthly option -- or click on any amount in the Giving Levels sidebar and press the "back" arrow to get to the monthly option.

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More about Salvation Farms at: www.salvationfarms.org

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