This Sunday join us at the Mar Vista Green Tent to learn about The Farmlink Project. This grassroots non-profit organization was started during the pandemic by a group of college students with the goal of combatting food waste and food insecurity. They hope to eventually put themselves out of business!
Farmlink believes they can bring an end to hunger alongside massive food waste in our lifetime. They connect farms that have surplus produce with communities experiencing food insecurity. They are on a mission to feed people in need, rebuild food systems, reduce carbon emissions, and empower the next generation of young changemakers.
In April of 2020, after securing 13,000 eggs from one farmer, Farmlink founders rented a U-Haul Truck and drove this load to an LA Foodbank. With this successful delivery, they realized a nationwide network could be created to connect farms with communities and food banks.
At the Farmlink project, they believe that Food Access is an inalienable human right. For now, Farmlink is acting as the “link” connecting the broken supply chains in the agricultural and food access industries. "Our long-term goal is to set up infrastructure which will render our work obsolete."
In the United States, farms are throwing out 20 billion pounds of food, and simultaneously have 40 million food insecure Americans.
Since 2020, Farmlink has:
~ Rescued $100,000,000+ total pounds by January 2023
~ Made $83,000,000 meals possible by January 2023
~ Driven $5,400,000 economic relief to farmers and truckers
~ Moved 580,000 lbs of food in 2021 in response to disaster relief
~ Prevented 153,825 tonnes of CO2e since 2020 (that's the same as 182,042 acres worth of carbon sequestered by US forestland)