Gleaning for Sustainability

Gleaning, the collection and reallocation of extra produce from farms for donation to people in need, contributes to sustainability by simultaneously addressing food insecurity and food loss. This practice largely depends on gleaning organizations to gather and distribute excess produce, making their relationships with farmers critically important. Existing literature recognizes economic incentives for farmers’ participation in gleaning (namely, the federal tax deduction), but social and environmental considerations have not been formally researched.

Understanding how these three sustainability pillars motivate farmers to participate in gleaning can help organizations build stronger relationships. We interviewed 23 farmers in the United States who currently glean to learn how the three sustainability pillars motivate their participation. Farmers in our study most valued the social and environmental benefits that accompany gleaning, while economic considerations were not as influential in decision-making.

The most referenced benefit of gleaning was “feeding people,” cited by 87% (20) of participants. Interestingly, only 26% (6) of participants cited emissions reduction, which many studies present as the most prominent environmental benefit of gleaning. We also found that 26% (6) of participants used the federal tax deduction for charitable food donations, while 39% (9) were qualified for the deduction but chose not to use it, and the remaining 35% (8) did not qualify.

This suggests that the tax benefit is not as effective as previously reported. These findings convey that gleaning organizations can strategically use the three pillars of sustainability to attract new farmers to the practice of gleaning.