Gleaners’ Bounty Aids Needy

In the cool mist of a Camarillo morning, one of the finest examples of volunteerism in Ventura County is evident in the work of about a dozen retirees laboring at one of the area’s many produce farms.

The group, busy harvesting carrots on this particular day, is part of an organized effort to reduce food waste by salvaging crops that would otherwise be destroyed by growers because of defects or poor market conditions.

Rather than being plowed under, the fruit and vegetables are, instead, picked by Food Share, an area anti-hunger group. The bounty is then distributed throughout the county to 160 neighborhood agencies that assist the needy with free meals or groceries.

The program, known as “gleaning,” is in its 11th year and is believed to be the state’s oldest. Ventura County’s rich and varied agricultural base has helped make Food Share’s success possible.

“We’ve come quite a long way from 1978 when we were operating out of a two-car garage,” said Jewel Pedi, Food Share’s executive director.

Pedi now presides over a 12,000-square-foot warehouse operation that also handles donations of processed food and government surplus commodities.

Not only have as many as 24,000 area families benefited from the project, but produce has also been shipped to food banks as far away as Fresno and Los Angeles.

“(Food Share) is very good at helping to provide fresh fruit and vegetables for us,” said Doris Bloch, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank’s executive director. “Sometimes they glean more than they can use and they channel it into Los Angeles County for the hungry and needy people here . . . They’re doing a great job.”

Remarkably, about 4 million pounds of otherwise unwanted fresh fruit and vegetables are recovered annually from local fields by Food Share. Much of the produce has been rejected for cosmetic reasons, such as discoloration or bruising.

“There is a tremendous amount of product out here,” said Al Hall, who supervises the gleaning. “It’s just a matter of getting it picked, hauled and processed. There is plenty of food to feed everyone; it’s just a matter of distribution.”

Hall’s enthusiasm is also evident among the 200 people, mostly retirees, who have volunteered to become farm workers for a day, or more, a week. Generally, those that participate have little or no experience in agriculture.

From Monday through Friday, one or more crews of about a dozen people assemble at various locations throughout the county and are directed to a particular farm to pick whatever is in season. The crops vary and caninclude produce such as kiwi, butter lettuce, red beets, cauliflower or broccoli.

Twenty-six growers participate in the program by allowing the gleaners to work their fields when crops are no longer commercially viable to harvest.

For instance, the carrots being picked by volunteers were unsaleable as a fresh item because of mildew damage--the green tops had turned gray and yellow after an irregular weather pattern of fog and sun.

Although the carrots were still edible and wholesome, their retail value had disappeared, according to Tony Ochoa, a field manager for Boscovich Farms, which opened the carrot field to Food Share workers.

For two hours, the crew dug at the crop rows and pulled out handsome bunches of carrots, lopping off the discolored tops and then tossing the vegetables into bins. The group works for only a short period in order to prevent fatigue and finish before the noonday heat. But in the time allotted for the field, the gleaners picked six 500-pound bins of carrots.

Most of the volunteers are motivated to don their old clothes and get their hands dirty out of concern for the poor.

Ernie Fridrich, 68, a retired Navy pilot, said he enjoys the field work and knows his efforts are making a difference in the community.

“I feel like I’m doing something good for other people. And I also need the exercise,” he said.

Carl Santangelo, 73, has been gleaning since 1982.

“The Lord gave me two good arms,” he said, “so I work hard and pick what I can. And I hate to see food go to waste, plus I’ve become fascinated with it all.”

Another advocate is schoolteacher Joyce Lister, 45, the crew’s youngest member.

“I love everything about gleaning,” she said. “I enjoy helping people and being outside. Carrots, though, are a lot of work, but they’re also gratifying because so many come out of the ground.”

Even after a productive morning, only a small portion of the eight-acre plot was picked. The field would be plowed under with most of the carrots still in the ground.

“It’s wonderful to get this food, but its a shame that so much still goes to waste,” said Frank Craven, 70, a 10-year veteran of the Food Share gleaning project. “We’ll never get all this done . . . But the farmer can’t wait for us to finish because he needs to plow the field under and restart with another crop.”

Occasionally, the same market conditions that allow farmers to donate unharvested produce can change quickly and make things interesting for the gleaners.

Another volunteer, Reb Varner, recalls a time when the crew was told to stop harvesting crookneck squash by a grower because the prices for the yellow vegetable had suddenly increased. The gleaners were then directed toward a plot of zucchini, which, correspondingly, had dropped in value.

“So, they told us to move over to the zucchini and leave the crookneck squash alone,” said Varner.

Even so, Hall, the supervisor, lamented the pending loss of the carrot acreage.

“If we had more people,” he said, “we could pick this entire field.”

Those interested in donating time as gleaners or money to fund processing operations can write Food Share, P.O. Box 4596, Ventura, Calif. 93004. The group’s telephone number is (805) 647-3944.