By Kristi Eaton for The Daily Yonder.
Broadcast version by Deborah Van Fleet for Nebraska News Connection reporting for The Daily Yonder-Public News Service Collaboration
The links between climate change, farmers and nutrition in low-income countries is a matter of national security in the United States, said an official with the Farm Journal Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that released a new report.
"If you're hungry, you're going to do just about anything you need to do to feed yourself and your family, especially if you are a mom, and you will go hungry yourself to feed your child," Katie Lee, vice president of government affairs at Farm Journal Foundation, told the Daily Yonder.
"That leads to all sorts of challenging situations where that is more of an issue. We still have hungry people in the United States. But it is a far more dire issue in lower-income countries - just in terms of sheer percentage of populations of people who are dealing with either acute hunger where they're on the brink of starvation, or general hunger, where they're not having regular access to food, let alone nutritious food."
Lee was referring to a study that found weather events over the past several years have led to lower harvests, lost agricultural incomes and increasing food prices. All those factors contribute to increasing rates of malnutrition, according to the report by Ramya Ambikapathi and Daniel Mason-D'Croz, senior research associates at Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Department of Global Development.
About 3 billion people around the world are unable to afford a well-balanced, healthy diet that includes whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and animal-sourced foods, the study found. People in low- and middle-income countries, where farming is often the main source of income, are feeling the brunt of the impact.
Women farmers were a centerpiece to the report.
Ambikapathi, one of the report authors, said women feel the impacts of climate change more severely than men due to higher exposure and sensitivity. She pointed out that a crop loss or a small pest infestation can have devastating effects because they cannot address it as easily because of lower access to information and financial services compared to men.
"I think one of the more classic (impacts is that when women are primarily responsible for getting water, and the more you see drought-like conditions, (they) have to go further and further," Ambikapathi said in a Zoom interview with the Daily Yonder. "There's also a lot of new reports that come out that gender-based violence increases with climate change."
Study co-author Mason-D'Croz echoed that sentiment. Vulnerable groups have less access to resources, he said.
"When you do have some sort of an external shock, whether climate, pests and disease, economic shock of some sort - these groups almost always are the ones who get hit the hardest, because they have the least capacity to absorb it," Mason-D'Croz said in a Zoom interview.
The report makes recommendations for what U.S. policymakers can do to support global nutrition security. The recommendations include supporting investments in agricultural research and development; investing in programs that benefit women's nutrition and womenwho work in agriculture and food systems; and increasing support for programs that improve farmers' access to finance, among other recommendations.
Lee said the study points to policy actions the U.S. could take. "We have lots of opportunities through appropriations and funding and the Farm Bill to support ag development and innovation, and address challenges like climate change, global hunger and malnutrition and things like high input costs that hurt farmers, bottom lines, and more," she said.
In addition to global nutrition being a U.S. national security issue, Lee said there are also concerns about pests and health risks, including animal diseases. Thirdly, there are economic and trade angles that suggest a focus on climate change and global nutrition should be a U.S. priority.
"If we're looking at where the trade opportunities are going forward, it's in places like Africa," Lee said. "And there are huge markets and a huge rapidly growing population, where, through working with smallholder farmers to try to build up incomes in those countries, there's a huge opportunity for U.S. agriculture."
Finally, she added, it's simply the right thing to do.
"We should be taking a view that anyone who is hungry in this world, any child or a mother, who is hungry, is not acceptable," she said.
Kristi Eaton wrote this article for The Daily Yonder.
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By Taylor Haelterman for Triple Pundit.
Broadcast version by Eric Galatas for Colorado News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration
When Arlan Preblud noticed the abundance of food going to waste in Denver, he stepped away from a 30-year career in the local legal and business scene to drive around the city, pick up as much excess food as his Volvo could carry, and deliver it to local food banks.
That was in 2009. Preblud’s ambition has since evolved into a full-fledged nonprofit with a fleet of refrigerated trucks, a dedicated team of staff and volunteers, and a 30,000-square-foot facility. We Don’t Waste serves more than 100 hunger relief organizations across Denver, saving and redistributing 220 million servings of food to date.
Just under 40 percent of the total food produced in the United States last year went to waste, totaling over 91 million tons, according to the food waste prevention nonprofit ReFed. Surplus food donations saved just 1.75 million tons from that fate. But that small amount can have a big impact, especially when it’s used to address food insecurity.
One in nine people in Colorado are facing hunger, according to Feeding America. And that number seems to be on the rise.
The percentage of Coloradans experiencing food insecurity increased three points from 2021 to 2023, according to a Colorado Health Institute survey. Over 11 percent of people said they ate less than they should at some point in the last year because they couldn’t afford food. Denver County showed above-average rates of food insecurity for the state.
We Don’t Waste recovered almost 23 million servings of food in 2023, according to its annual report. The nonprofit estimates diverting that food from the landfill prevented over 10 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions and prevented wasting the almost 506 million gallons of water used to produce it.
“What's cool about what we do, on the food waste side especially, is it doesn't just impact Denver,” said Kyle Endres, executive director of We Don’t Waste. “It impacts the whole planet because you have fewer greenhouse gas emissions and the impact on climate change that results from that. It's this cool local solution to this worldwide problem.”
The organization receives donations of perfectly edible, surplus food and drinks from every part of the food system. Team members might pick up food that hasn’t sold at a bakery, excess produce at a farm or leftovers at a convention center after an event. At the same time, a production center or supermarket could drop off whole pallets of food that’s short-dated or has misprinted labels. A typical tour of the warehouse might include massive boxes of bananas and crates of milk alongside whole wheels of fancy cheese and a small box of obscure mushrooms.
Tax benefits, reduced environmental impact and fewer trash disposal fees are all benefits businesses might see from donating excess food. But many of them just don’t want to see the fruits of their labor thrown away, Endres said. And it’s important to them that they can provide something that directly benefits their community.
“We're helping solve a problem for our food donors,” he said. “They don't want to waste the food that they can't sell for whatever reason, and we meet that need. They don't have to pay for additional waste management. They don't have to feel bad that they're throwing away perfectly good food. We provide them a mechanism to get it out to the community.”
This year, volunteers also started rescuing and delivering small food donations that aren’t feasible to pick up with the organization’s box trucks. Using an app, they can collect a donation listed by local businesses and drop it off at a nonprofit or the warehouse. In the first four months of 2024, volunteers completed 219 food rescues this way.
Some of those deliveries go to the Heart and Hand Center’s community fridge in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood. The center provides daily afterschool programming for youth, which includes meals, and support for the whole family. Its community fridge typically sees over 50 people every day.
“We regularly hear from folks who share that our food programs have been instrumental in allowing them to stay housed because they don't have to choose between paying rent and paying for food when they can supplement their pantry through the nutritious and delicious offerings that We Don’t Waste contributes to the community fridge,” Angie Neslin, the organization’s resource center program manager, told TriplePundit in an email.
The center also works with We Don’t Waste to stock its no-cost grocery program, which serves 50 to 100 families weekly, and host an annual summer barbecue. Altogether, the center distributed over 140,000 servings of food from We Don’t Waste this year, Neslin said.
When Preblud started this journey in his Volvo, he aimed to be a better matchmaker. The nonprofits where he volunteered often received food that wasn’t up to the quality they wanted or didn’t match their needs, Endres said. Preblud wanted to fill that gap as best he could by tailoring which food donations went where. That’s still at the heart of what We Don’t Waste does today.
“We want to be in partnership with the nonprofits that we work with because if we didn't have them, it would be a lot harder to find a home for all the food that we rescue,” Endres said.
Nonprofit partners range from food pantries and soup kitchens to shelters that serve meals to schools, daycare centers and afterschool programs. Each serves a unique community, but all have food programs focused on addressing food insecurity and improving health outcomes.
The food supply is entirely based on donations, so the level of customization can only go as far as what is available, Endres said. The team can’t control exactly what comes in, but by asking for frequent feedback, they can customize as much as possible, including delivery frequency and whether the nonprofit picks up the food or receives deliveries.
“We really try as best we can to match food with nonprofits in a way that they can use it,” Endres said. “Taking into account what is their storage like? Do they have cold storage? How many people are they serving? How often are they open? And what dietary preferences do their clients have? We don't want to be bringing food that doesn't match a certain demographic population because then they'll just waste it.”
BeyondHome, a transitional housing facility for families facing poverty and homelessness, started receiving food from We Don’t Waste during the COVID-19 pandemic. It serves about 50 adults and 80 children across its 37 apartments, said Allison Bristow, BeyondHome’s director of finance and human resources.
Bristow also runs the housing nonprofit’s food bank, which is open to residents twice a week to pick out whatever they’d like. Donations supplement what she can purchase with a monthly budget of $500, often used for necessities like toilet paper, eggs and milk.
Once a week, Bristow stops by the We Don’t Waste warehouse to shop the shelves. It’s a huge financial relief for BeyondHome, likely saving thousands of dollars a year, she said.
Most of the time, she’s picking up stuff that many families at BeyondHome wouldn’t be able to afford themselves, like meats, specialty cheese, and fun extra items like popsicles and frozen waffles. Alongside the relief of not having to worry about affording food, being able to try new things has a huge positive impact on families.
Bristow remembers the first time a family that recently moved in stopped by the food bank. “I was in tears because the kids were like, ‘Can we have that piece of cake?’ ... ‘Can we eat it now?’” she said. “And they were so amazed at everything that was available for them to take.”
We Don’t Waste also distributed food for free at 89 farmers’ markets last year. Year-round, team members and volunteers bring these markets to Denver neighborhoods where food access has been historically, presently and intentionally neglected. Known as food apartheids, residents of these communities have limited access to fresh, affordable, nutrient-dense foods. Roughly 50 food apartheids, also called food deserts, exist in the Denver Metro area.
“I really see the impact when I go to our mobile markets or talk to one of our partner nonprofits,” Endres said. “There's just so much need in the community. And we're not going to be able to give all the food that a family needs at a mobile market or all the food that a nonprofit needs to serve their clients. But it just allows everyone to have access to different types of food and more food.”
Even with the colossal amount of food We Don’t Waste rescues, there’s still a waiting list of about 45 nonprofits that would like to receive food. The organization is always looking for more donors to try and meet the need.
It also faces staffing and volunteer challenges, particularly with the growth in popularity of the farmers’ markets.
“We're thankful to have a very committed volunteer base, and we've got some volunteers that come every week, and they're basically like additional staff,” Endres said. “But our markets have grown such that we need 20 volunteers for each market. That puts a strain on our staff to find the volunteers and train them and make sure they're ready.”
But there are no plans to slow down. We Don’t Waste moved into its new facility at the end of 2023, and 30,000 square feet offer a lot of room to expand its community programs. As construction finishes on a demonstration kitchen and a classroom, the team is planning new ways to educate and connect people with food, Endres said. They hope to offer in-house food waste, gardening, nutrition, and cooking education and broaden the food accepted and distributed by preparing and upcycling foods — like making soup stock from vegetables close to perishing.
While We Don’t Waste is a homegrown solution, food waste and food insecurity are everywhere. Most major metropolitan areas have some kind of food rescue organization, and Endres thinks the We Don’t Waste model is replicable in areas that don’t. The team is always happy to exchange ideas with other groups looking to start a similar project in their city. Some have taken them up on that offer, visited the Denver facility, and brought what they learned back to their communities. Regardless of the approach, what matters is that good food isn’t going to waste, Endres said.
“Food justice is really important,” he said. “In a society where we have so much, people shouldn't be food insecure.”
Taylor Haelterman wrote this article for Triple Pundit.
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People who receive food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will no longer be reimbursed if their benefits are stolen.
Sarah Weber Ogden, executive director of Partners for Hunger-Free Oregon, said losing these protections will harm Oregon families. She said skimming, when a device on a card reader steals personal information, is the main way benefits are stolen.
Ogden emphasizes that even though rates of skimming are very low, it can be devastating to victims.
"I don't think that people who haven't experienced it really understand what it's like to suddenly find out you don't have any money for food," she said. "It really is just a feeling of absolute helplessness."
President Joe Biden signed the protection into law in 2022 as part of the Farm Bill, but it was excluded from the latest version signed last year. Ogden added that when protections like this end on a federal level, it places the burden on the state to pick up the tab. Currently nearly 700,000 Oregonians, or one in six, receive SNAP benefits.
Ogden observed that since the Farm Bill has been extended, the door is still open to push for a more inclusive SNAP and other nutrition programs. More than half of SNAP participants in Oregon are in families with children, and Ogden said ending the theft reimbursement program is taking a step backwards.
"We remember how bad it was for families before the replacement benefits program was available," she noted.
If you have had benefits stolen before December 20, 2024, Ogden explained you may be able to get them replaced if you act quickly. She suggested people can protect themselves from theft by blocking out-of-state and online spending, freezing their card between uses, and changing their PIN regularly.
To find food, visit OregonFoodBank.org to locate free groceries or meals nearby.
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