The covid-19 pandemic surely brought about a variety of new and unexpected challenges, but it also worsened many already existing challenges even further. One of these challenges that was made worse by the pandemic was the issue of food insecurity. When many college campuses shut down in March of 2020, a group of college students from across the country sought to find a way to fight food insecurity and reduce food waste at the same time. Through their collaboration, they created the Farmlink Project.
The Farmlink Project connects farms with a surplus of fresh produce to communities facing food insecurity. On their website, they note, “The USDA estimates that 30-40 percent of the food supply in the United States goes to waste every year.” By decreasing the amount of food wasted every year, the Farmlink Project is also helping to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide emissions produced. The Farmlink Project’s goal is to set up long-term infrastructure that connects agricultural and food access industries so that their work will eventually no longer be needed. The Farmlink Project receives produce through donations as well as unsold produce sourced by their student employees. After the produce is received, it is transported to foodbanks where it can be given to those in need. Since their start in 2020, The Farmlink Project has moved 47,820,342 pounds of food, prevented 40,907,240 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, and delivered 39,792,282 meals! The Farmlink Project largely relies on donations to sustain itself, but for every dollar donated, they are able to source 24 pounds of produce, which can provide 20 meals to families in need!
The Farmlink Project story is an inspiring tale of how a group of young adults saw a problem, and stepped up to solve it, even in an already stressful and difficult time. In fact, The Farmlink Project won the 2021 Congressional Medal of Honor Service Award for the impact they have created!
You can read more about The Farmlink Project at their website: https://www.farmlinkproject.org/
Brilliant idea. Nutrition is becoming more and more popular in our society as time goes on and using a major event like the pandemic to create “long lasting” solutions to problems is very smart. I appreciate not only the solution it gives to food waste, but also the families that are being helped by this project and getting good, farm-grown foods. It’s incredible to see the stats for this project and think about how much change is being made here!
This is a great idea! It is great how a group of college students were faced with a problem and worked together to form a business to solve it. This is a big problem today, and it is working to solve farm food wastefulness and those that don’t have enough food at the same time. This sounds like a successful business.