Farmers & Food Rescue
Food rescue organizations often receive fruit and vegetable donations from local farmers, but demand for this fresh produce is higher than supply. Increasing this supply is especially important now as people are relying on food pantries more than ever to address soaring food prices and the withholding of SNAP benefits during the government shutdown. By better understanding what motivates farmers to make donations, organizations can further reduce food loss on farms and increase the amount of fresh produce available to people in need.
Many food rescue organizations recognize the importance of farmers’ donations in their operations. “The only real un-replaceable part of our whole [food donation] system is the farmers,” said Michael Binger, Regional Coordinator for Society of St. Andrew’s Office in the Carolinas, which gathered and donated over five million pounds of produce in 2024. Like many other food rescue operations, St. Andrew invests time and effort into building strong farmer relationships, complete with farm visits and ongoing communications. According to National Site Coordinator Haley Schulman, Food Rescue U.S. maintains strong, local farmer relationships across the country so that farmers know who to contact when inundated with surplus produce.
New research suggests that social factors incentivize farmers to participate in charitable food donation more often than financial factors, as was found in previous research. This new understanding can strengthen relationships between farmers and organizations, increasing produce supplies into the charitable food network.
Researchers at Duke University interviewed twenty three farmers along the East Coast of the U.S. who currently participate in charitable food donation. All participants reported social motivation(s) for donating produce. In fact, feeding people was the most commonly reported benefit, motivating 87% (20) of participants. Farmers often described both the personal and community benefits of feeding people. For example, one participant expressed their personal satisfaction and understanding of community benefits by saying,
“I got into farming because I love to feed people and make sure that people have healthy food to eat. So being able to get that food to underserved communities, as close to home as possible, is just very fulfilling to me and makes me sleep easier at night.”
Farmers recognized community building (26%, 6) as an additional societal benefit. Generally, farmers enjoy connecting with volunteers to share about their work. Resulting from this engagement, farmers shared psychological benefits (43%, 10), positive for mental health. Recognizing these motives, organizations can increase volunteer-farmer contact and invite farmers to see the impacts of their donations.
Most farmers in the study (70%, 6) donated surplus produce in an effort to reduce food loss. Like anyone, farmers don’t want to see their hard work (in this case, produce) go to waste: “If you put effort into growing something, you might as well at least have somebody eat it, even if [you’re] not able to sell it.” Another farmer simply said, “I hate wasting or pitching anything. It drives me crazy.” By expressing gratitude for farmers’ efforts, organizations can show farmers the appreciation they deserve for growing and donating produce.
While many farmers referenced the personal benefits of reducing food loss, only 44% (10) of participants connected food loss to environmental benefits, like reducing methane emissions. This finding suggests that the environmental motives might not be top-of-mind for farmers when deciding whether to donate produce. While some organizations may be environmentally oriented, they might not lead farmer relationship building with the environmental benefits of their work.
The federal tax deduction for produce donations is intended to subsidize the extra costs of donating, but nearly three-quarters (74%, 17) of farmers in the study do not use it. Farmers who donate lightweight produce (like herbs and lettuces, which are highly perishable and difficult to preserve) often do not meet the minimum weight requirement to qualify for the deduction. In addition, the tax deduction burdens farmers by requiring strict record keeping throughout the year. Although most charitable food organizations compile this data to share with farmers, few farmers in the study found the savings to be worthwhile. Overall, these findings suggest that the current tax incentive for donations may not be effective. To align with farmers’ motivations, organizations may also de-emphasize the current federal tax deduction incentive when appealing for donations.
The Society of St. Andrew and Food Rescue U.S. are two organizations with national reach that build and maintain thousands of diverse farmer relationships. The observations of both organizations align with these new research findings– farmers donate produce primarily to nourish and connect with their communities. Outreach experts from both organizations also agreed that farmers strongly dislike seeing their produce wasted, reinforcing the influence of social motives in farmers’ decision making.
With November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits withheld in most states due to the federal government shutdown, and food costs rising due to inflation and tariffs, connecting farmers with food rescue organizations is perhaps more important than ever. These organizations do important work to reduce food loss and food insecurity, but many can grow their impacts with increased farmer participation. Research and field experience shows that organizations should consider emphasizing the social and waste reduction aspects of their work when building relationships with farmers. By connecting with farmers around what they care about most, we can increase fresh food donations from farms to help feed people in need.
About The Research:
Sam Schulteis is a Master of Environmental Management and Master of Business Administration joint degree candidate at Yale University. She conducted and analyzed all interviews for her undergraduate senior honors thesis project at Duke University, where she graduated with her B.S. in 2023. At Duke, Dr. Norbert Wilson of the World Food Policy Center and Dr. Charlotte Clark of the Nicholas School of the Environment advised Sam’s work. Her thesis received the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values 2024 Undergraduate Writing Award and The Nicholas School’s Sarah LaBoskey Award.
Advised by Tagan Engel under CBEY’s Regenerative Agriculture Initiative, Sam updated and refined her thesis paper for submission to the Journal of Agriculture and Human Values, where it’s currently awaiting submission. Through CBEY’s program, Sam also met with food rescue coordinators to share her findings. Stay tuned for the full paper.Sam extends her gratitude to advisors across Duke and Yale– Dr. Norber Wilson, Dr. Charlotte Clark, Tagan Engel, and Stuart DeCew. She is also grateful for Sarah Kuebbing from Yale’s Applied Science Synthesis Program for assistance with paper revisions. Finally, she thanks Haley Schulman and Michael Binger for sharing their real-world insights on farmer relationship building. This work would not be possible without farmers’ time, thoughts, and hard work.
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