The Food Group

We were honored to host Governor Tim Walz, representatives from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and other state leaders today to see first-hand how our work contributes to climate-smart, sustainable food systems. All of us at The Food Group, as well as our partners in the community, are excited about the $200 million investment the EPA is making in climate-smart food systems in Minnesota. It's a wide-ranging investment that covers not just how we grow the food, but also food insecurity, wasted food reduction, and sustainable agriculture practices. We look forward to seeing the impact and change this investment will have on our neighbors, our food system, and our climate in the months and years to come!

It's time for the annual Summer Challenge grant from Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless! This program helps local #foodshelves generate extra funds during the slower summer donation period, which allows them to sustain support and help our neighbors experiencing hunger. At The Food Group, we do our work through partnership, and we want to lift up the amazing work our food shelf partners do every day to make sure everyone in our community has the food they need. How can you help? It's easy! Make a donation directly to a participating food shelf by July 31. Your gift will help make them eligible for a matching grant ranging from $150 to $4,000. Find your local food shelf here and give today: https://lnkd.in/gWDUb3DZ

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as SNAP, provides benefits to approximately 41.2 million people in the U.S. every month. The current Farm Bill — which determines SNAP expenditures — expires this fall, and the House's proposed bill threatens to cut benefits by $30 billion over the next decade. It's crucial to ensure that SNAP is protected for our many neighbors and community members who rely on the program for food assistance. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4eV47s3

Our partners from the University of Minnesota Extension Department of Family, Health and Wellbeing: SNAP-Ed and EFNEP joined us last month to better understand how our work overlaps and how food makes it from farmers' fields to food shelves. This helpful group also spent time volunteering in our warehouse and packed 625 pounds of jasmine rice. That translates to approximately 520 meals! If your organization wants to give back to neighbors in need, reach out to Lonny at [email protected] to learn more about group volunteer opportunities. We look forward to hosting you!

Our #FoodOfTheMonth for July is ... peppers! We buy our peppers from Route 1 MN, Dawn2Dusk Farm, and from our #BigRiverFarms farmers, all located here in Minnesota. It's important to us that we purchase produce from local farms whenever possible to support local food production. Last year, we bought 28,400 pounds of bell peppers and 6,530 pounds of hot peppers to support our programs. That's more than 54,000 servings! When you become a Monthly Nourisher, you help share peppers of all kinds with your community. A gift of $20 provides anywhere from 3-10 pounds of peppers to people experiencing hunger. Give here: https://bit.ly/3UIOY5g Have leftover rice hanging around? Try this stuffed bell peppers recipe: https://bit.ly/3RIsL4Y It's an easy way to put any leftover ground beef to use, too!

"Gleaning" is a term for gathering excess fresh food from farms, grocers, markets, etc. to provide it to those experiencing hunger. We harvest and collect excess produce from various farms within a one-hour radius of our New Hope warehouse and redistribute it to our food shelf partners as part of our Produce Reclamation Program! If you've ever wondered about gleaning or are simply looking for a way to support our programs, consider volunteering with us! We on-farm glean every Thursday and most Tuesdays from 10AM - 1PM now through October. Learn more: https://bit.ly/43vRvlS

Identifying and addressing the importance of nutrition and the intersection between health and hunger has been one of our core focuses and values for more than 15 years, and our healthy foods policy has guided our work since 2008. As part of our commitment to health, we work with a number of organizations in the healthcare space to help provide personalized anti-hunger resources for their patients. Fairview Health Services and HealthPartners are two of those amazing partners. “It’s not just about distributing calories to individuals that aren’t getting enough," said Terese Hill, supervisor of community advancement food system strategy at Fairview Health Services. "There are ways we can do it to be intentional about supporting a healthy, vibrant, local food system so people can transition out of food insecurity.” Read more about our healthcare partnerships over on our blog: https://bit.ly/462i3fx

We are honored and excited to share that our work exploring agrivoltaics was recognized and awarded Solar Farm of the Year from the Solar Farm Summit in Chicago this week. Thanks to all who helped vote, and a special shoutout to Natural Resource Services, Inc for their nomination! Our executive director, Sophia Lenarz-Coy, presented as part of two panels at the summit to share with a national network of organizations and partners exploring agrivoltaics. We're excited to be a part of this national movement and a leader in Minnesota exploring vegetable production on solar fields, and we're hopeful that this work to support emerging farmers and farmers of color to farm under and around solar panels has the potential to break down barriers to land access. Special thanks to our partners: US Solar, Connexus® Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Great Plains Institute.

Explore local sustainable and organic farms this weekend! Farms all across the Twin Cities, eastern Minnesota, and western Wisconsin are open to the public this Saturday, July 13 from 10AM to 4PM as part of the Co-op Farm Tour. This tour has been connecting shoppers to the farmers at the heart of our local food system since 2011 and is back this year with both new featured farms and longtime favorites, including our own Big River Farms! No registration necessary. Find tour maps and more info here: https://lnkd.in/g73Vd9zh

Thank you to everyone who made a donation as part of our Summer Meal Drive. Your generous, tax-deductible gifts provided our local network of more than 500 food shelves and meal programs the food, resources, and capacity they need to keep up with the increasing demand for food in their communities. And thanks to the generosity of our partners, Andersen Corporation and Michael Foods, your gifts were matched up to $10,000 ... providing a combined 40,000 meals to local families in need! Didn't have a chance to donate before we reached our match goal? We're always accepting donations! Give here: https://bit.ly/3UIOY5g