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From farm to table, not landfill: Michigan partners seek to double food donations

A coalition of Michigan organizations is working to double the amount of donated food by improving food rescue efforts throughout the supply chain.

Michigan Farm Bureau’s Tess Van Gorder represents the farming community on an advisory committee for the Michigan Sustainable Business Forum.

“If we get to the food before it gets to a landfill, it’s not food waste,” she says. “It’s food that’s recovered and food that is rescued to be able to feed someone.”

She says the state wants to cut food waste in half by 2030 and the Double Food Donation campaign is about identifying opportunities.

“It’s really a complex supply chain within a supply chain,” she shares. “How do we say, ‘Okay, if this food isn’t going to a grocery stores and being sold from the grocery store, how do we make sure very perfectly safe edible food then goes to a human that could use it?”

Recent analysis estimates about a billion dollars of economic value is lost to Michigan’s farms and food manufacturers as unharvested food, shrinkage, or other inefficiencies in the supply chain every year.

Van Gorder says supporters will host educational and network events, collect data to food donation, rescue and upcycling, and develop matchmaking resources for food supplies and financial support. 

The work is supported by the Michigan Food System Waste Reduction Roadmap Initiative, Michigan Food System & Business Forum, and the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.