THE general community has always been quick to give farmers a hand through the tough times, but now the tables are being turned.
Since 2011 farmers in the Riverina – the State’s foodbowl – have been contributing an increasing amount of fresh fruit and vegetables to not-for-profit food relief agency, Foodbank NSW and ACT, through the Waste Not Want Not Project (WNWNP).
WNWNP was initiated by a group at Carrathool led by Uniting Church rural chaplain, Julie Greig, Hillston; Carrathool Shire’s community development officer, Penny Davies, and former NSW Department of Primary Industries drought support worker, Lou Relevant, Griffith, and co-ordinates donated Riverina produce for Foodbank NSW and ACT.
“We were concerned about the amount of fruit and vegetables being wasted in the region simply because the produce didn’t meet narrow commercial specifications, such as weight and colour,” said Lou, now the Foodbank Riverina produce manager.
“Many farmers see their participation in this project as a way to pay back the wider community for the help it has provided them through long periods of drought in the past.”
Depending on the season, Lou said between 50 and 100 farmers were now involved in the project, which had also expanded to include Griffith, Leeton, Coleambally, Yanco, Hillston, and Darlington Point, with farmers as far north as Cowra, Young, and Orange also involved.
Foodbank NSW and ACT was established as Sydney Foodbank in 1992, is a non-denominational and community supported agency which collects unwanted food and re-distributes it to people in need through charitable and welfare agencies, such as Anglicare, Mission Australia, the Salvation Army and Uniting Church, as well as community groups and schools to feed the disadvantaged.
This year Foodbank helped distribute more than 5500 tonnes of food to more than 550 agencies and charities across NSW and the ACT – of this more than 1200t was fresh fruit and vegetables.
This donated food came in the form of surplus, salvaged and donated product from manufacturers, distributors, and farmers, said Foodbank NSW and ACT business development manager, Tony Gatt.
About half the food donations go towards help people in the bush, with demand spiking in times of crisis, Tony said.
“Of the 5500t of donated food this year, 1200t was fresh fruit and vegetables which came directly from farmers through the WNWNP,” he said.
In the first year, Tony said the WNWNP expected to provide about 15t of produce but ended up donating 200t, and each year since this figure had continued to grow.
“Foodbank NSW and ACT is now investigating opportunities to source protein donations direct from farmers and processors,” Tony said.
“We’ve been attending sheep and cattle sales and asking farmers to donate an animal to the agency and the response is looking positive.”
This year Foodbank NSW and ACT celebrated 22 years of helping the disadvantaged with a fundraising gala dinner at Sydney Showground, Olympic Park, attended by 140 guests which raised more than $40,000.
The organisation’s chairman, Ern Pope, said 700,000 Australians suffered from food insecurity in NSW and ACT each year, and the $40,000 raised during the evening would help complete the building of Foodbank NSW and ACT’s new food distribution centre located in the western Sydney suburb of Glendenning.
Mr Pope said the new centre would allow Foodbank NSW and ACT to increase its distribution of food to the needed 1700 tonnes each year – much of this food would otherwise have gone to landfill.
The organisation’s executive officer, Gerry Andersen, said food rescue efforts and collaborative supply partnerships between Foodbank NSW and ACT and farmers and food companies had enabled it to become the State’s largest food relief agency.
“Foodbank provides more than 90 per cent of wholesale emergency food relief to charities and agencies in NSW and the ACT,” he said.
“Our new distribution centre at Glendenning will ultimately see a further 1200 tonnes of food rescued and distributed to help us in our mission to fight hunger in NSW.
“In the past 12 months, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of welfare agencies relying on Foodbank NSW and ACT’s services in this State alone and the need for food to feed the hungry has never been greater.”
Gerry said Foodbank’s work would not be a reality without “generous supporters” as well as grants of $2 million from the NSW Government and $200,000 from the ACT Government.
Many agribusinesses are donors to Foodbank, including: Bega, Costa, Dairy Farmers, Fonterra, George Weston Foods Ltd, Greens, Golden Circle, Goodman Fielder, Lion, Montague, Murray Goulburn, Parmalat, Primo, Simplot, SPC Ardmona, Sugar Australia, SunRice, and Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, while supporters of the organisation include ANZ, the CSIRO, Swire Cold Storage and Tetra Pak.
Visit Food Bank NSW.
Wiseman’s wasting not
NEILL Wiseman hates to see anything go to waste, so he was quick to join the Waste Not Want Not Project (WNWNP) established at Carrathool in 2011.
The Coleambally farmer and his family produce grains, and eggs as well as onions, cabbage, cauli?owers and broccoli on their 400-hectare property just north of the Riverina town.
“Farmers hate to see any good produce go to waste, particularly when it’s only just below commercial speci?cations – the market can be very fussy,” he said.
“I don’t want to see food wasted and if somebody can use it, that’s terrific.
“A lot of what we contribute to the WNWNP is the same as we’ll eat ourselves.”
Fresh produce, such as fruit and vegetables, can be rejected for a number of reasons, depending on the crop, market conditions and demand.
Last year a delivery of broccoli was rejected because the market “didn’t want it”, Neill said; on another occasion a pallet of onions was rejected for a similar reason – in both cases Foodbank NSW and ACT was the bene?ciary through the WNWNP.
He said when produce wasn’t wanted by the market, and there was no opportunity for sale to a second’s market, the vegetables would likely be dumped or the crops buried or ploughed in.
“Sometimes all that’s wrong with the produce is it’s too small or too large which means it just won’t meet market specifications – there’s nothing wrong with it,” he said.
“We’ll use it at home ourselves.”
Neill said he sees his working relationship with WNWNP as a long term venture.
“When I heard about the project, I rang (co-organiser) Lou Relevant and offered a few boxes of onions straight away – I thought it was a great idea,” he said.
The Wiseman property has been fully certified organic since 2000.