Fruit & vegetable gleaning initiatives
Fruit and vegetable gleaning or field gleaning initiatives gather food left in fields after the primary harvest or food in fields where harvesting is not profitable. These initiatives can also collect food after farmers’ markets or farm stands close, or excess produce from farms, orchards, or packing houses. Urban gleaning or urban harvesting initiatives gather excess produce from registered fruit trees, community, school, and backyard gardens, or other urban agriculture sites. Most gleaning initiatives rely on volunteers to harvest, pick up, sort, and deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to food banks, food pantries, churches, mobile food pantries, and other community organizations that help distribute the produce to families with low incomes. Some participating farms use cull bins while harvesting to set aside non-marketable produce for donation1, 2.
What could this strategy improve?
Expected Benefits
Our evidence rating is based on the likelihood of achieving these outcomes:
Increased consumption of healthy foods
Improved dietary habits
Potential Benefits
Our evidence rating is not based on these outcomes, but these benefits may also be possible:
Improved nutrition
Increased food security
Reduced emissions
What does the research say about effectiveness?
Fruit and vegetable gleaning initiatives are a suggested strategy to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables and improve eating habits, especially for families with low incomes1, 3, 4. Gleaning initiatives may improve nutrition3 and support community food security5, although effects may be greater among larger scale or more intensive operations6. Food banks, food pantries, and meal programs can use fruit and vegetable gleaning initiatives to source and distribute fresh produce, which is a suggested strategy to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition among individuals and families receiving food assistance from food pantries and meal programs7, 8. Additional evidence is needed to confirm effects.
Every year, approximately 7% of planted fields in the U.S. are not harvested, although this number varies widely, occasionally reaching as much as 50% for a particular crop9.
Gleaning initiatives reduce food waste, which contributes to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from the production, processing, transportation, and disposal of food10, 11, 12, 13. About one-third of the world’s food supply is wasted every year, which accounts for 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions14, 15. In 2023, food waste in the U.S. generated 230 million metric tons of greenhouse gases and wasted 16.2 trillion gallons of water14, 15.
Successful gleaning programs face several operational challenges, especially volunteer coordination and donated produce procurement and distribution. Several studies suggest methods to optimize gleaning schedules and maximize the volume of produce gathered7, 16, 17.
Most Americans do not meet the recommended daily servings of fruit and vegetables for a healthy diet; as of 2019, only 3% of U.S. adults consume the daily recommended servings of fruits and only 10% consume the daily recommended servings of vegetables18, 19. Low levels of fruit and vegetable consumption are associated with increased risk of chronic diseases and mortality20, 21, while adequate fresh fruit and vegetable consumption as part of a healthy diet reduces the risk of many chronic diseases22.
How could this strategy advance health equity? This strategy is rated potential to decrease disparities: suggested by expert opinion.
Fruit and vegetable gleaning initiatives are a suggested strategy to decrease disparities in healthy food access, diet quality, and food security between people with lower incomes and people with higher incomes7, 8, 14. Gleaning initiatives that provide fresh produce to food banks, food pantries, and community meal programs may be especially beneficial for households receiving food assistance7, 8. Larger scale gleaning initiatives may improve community and household food security14.
Fruit and vegetable gleaning initiatives can help food justice efforts by increasing dignified access to healthy, fresh food and helping shift society’s dominant narrative away from blaming individuals for experiencing hunger and food insecurity towards understanding the structural factors that shape food insecurity39. Systemic racism and discrimination have created communities where people of color, especially Black and Hispanic households, experience food insecurity at much higher rates than white households39, 40, 41. Food insecurity rates are disproportionately high among households experiencing poverty and single-mother households compared to their counterparts41, and over 25% of U.S. military personnel and their families with lower incomes experience food insecurity42.
Food insecurity rates vary across and within geographic regions; as of 2022, available data shows food insecurity affecting 14.7% of households in rural areas and 15.3% of households in urban areas43. In rural Appalachia communities have much higher rates of food insecurity than national averages and Central Appalachia has the highest rates of food insecurity in the Appalachian region44, 45. Many urban areas also have high food insecurity rates. In the Bronx, New York, 31% of residents experience food insecurity and 37% of children46.
The nutritional quality of food available to people experiencing food insecurity often does not meet their cultural or health needs47. Fruit and vegetable gleaning initiatives may improve the variety and availability of fresh produce and reduce diet-related health inequalities14, 47. People experiencing food insecurity have fewer fresh fruits, vegetables, and perishable food items in their diet, precisely the food that is most likely to go to waste and that gleaning initiatives can provide11.
What is the relevant historical background?
Gleaning is an ancient practice that has been around since biblical times48, 49 and provided access to leftover food for people dealing with poverty, especially in rural areas48. Gleaning was typically recognized as a legal right, but as more land was privatized and industrial farming techniques were developed and adopted to maximize profits in the U.S. and Europe, standards changed48, 49. A 1788 English court decision, Steel v. Houghton, turned gleaning into trespassing48. Over the next two centuries, gleaning in the U.S. was largely viewed as a historical practice not applicable in modern times48, though it was still a common practice in other regions of the world49.
In recent decades, gleaning initiatives have emerged in the U.S. as a tool to address both food waste problems and food insecurity48. Congress has acted to support gleaning initiatives, including the Hunger Prevention Act of 1988 that helped states establish clearinghouses for gleaned produce50 and the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (1996) that limits liability to protect people involved in gleaning initiatives51. Policies to address hunger and provide a social safety net for Americans have been passed, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)52. However, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted many problems with the U.S. social safety net, especially around food security41. During the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment rates increased, easy access to school meals ended, and food supply chains were disrupted41. Between February and May 2020, food insecurity rates doubled among all U.S. households, while food insecurity rates for households with children tripled41. Food insecurity also increased disproportionately among people experiencing poverty, especially Black and Latino households living in food deserts53, 54.
The Trump Administration signed H.R. 1 into law on July 4, 2025, cutting an estimated $187 billion of funding from SNAP over the next ten years, and as of 2026 over 4 million Americans have already lost access to federal nutrition assistance, with more reductions in SNAP participation expected55. These massive cuts affect the rest of the food safety net and make it more difficult for people to access food and needed social support services55. The populations most affected by these changes include children, older adults, veterans, people experiencing homelessness, immigrant families, rural communities, and communities with the highest rates of diet-related disease55. In states that report age-specific data, over 776,000 children have already lost SNAP benefits as of June 202655.
Equity Considerations
- What fruit and vegetable gleaning initiatives are available to people in your community? How can your community support and grow these initiatives? How well are gleaning initiatives partnered with food pantries, food banks, or community meal programs in your area?
- Who decides where and how gleaning initiatives will operate in your area? How is program funding determined and allocated? What efforts are underway to support people who have lost federal nutrition assistance in your community?
- How easy is it for community members to access food offerings from gleaning initiatives, in terms of location, public transportation options, pick up times, delivery options, etc.? What partnerships or programs could increase accessibility?
Implementation Examples
The National Gleaning Project provides information on national and state laws and regulations pertaining to gleaning and food donation, an interactive map of gleaning and fresh food recovery organizations, and gleaning and food recovery reports and materials to support organizing and implementing gleaning programs across the country23.
A 2011 national survey of food banks reports 115 organizations with local agriculture programs, including 73 gleaning programs6. The Society of St. Andrew Gleaning Network, for example, gleans 15 to 20 million pounds of food annually and distributes gleaned produce in the contiguous 48 states and Washington, D.C.24. The California Association of Food Banks’ Farm to Family program is the largest gleaning program in the nation; it distributes over 160 million pounds of produce annually to over 40 food banks25.
Statewide gleaning projects also glean millions of pounds of produce each year, for example, the Arkansas Gleaning Project26. Some states offer growers a tax credit for donations of excess produce to state-sponsored food banks, as in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Oregon9.
Regional non-profit organizations can run gleaning programs with food banks, churches, and other community partners. One example of such a partnership is FRESHFARM Markets which gleans throughout the Chesapeake Bay region27. Many local gleaning initiatives glean thousands of pounds of produce, as in Humboldt County, California28. Gleaning initiatives can also supply fresh produce to schools in low income areas; for example, Ag Against Hunger supplies leafy greens and fresh fruit for school salad bars via the More Produce in Schools Program29.
Urban gleaning initiatives are underway in many cities, for example, Los Angeles, California30, San Francisco, California31; San Jose, California32; Washington, D.C.33; Springfield, Missouri34; Grand Rapids, Michigan35; Salt Lake City, Utah36; and Portland, Oregon37, 38.
Implementation Resources
‡ Resources with a focus on equity.
USDA-Gleaning toolkit - U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Let's glean! United we serve toolkit.
CAFS-NGP - Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS). National Gleaning Project (NGP): Legal & policy resources, gleaning map, NGP reports & research. Vermont Law School, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National Agricultural Library.
UFF-Urban gleaning - Urban Food Forestry (UFF). Urban food forestry initiatives: Archive for urban gleaning and free resources.
Garden Gleaning-Toolkit - The Garden Gleaning Project. Garden gleaning: A toolkit for growers and food shelves.
Footnotes
* Journal subscription may be required for access.
1 Beyranevand 2017 - Beyranevand L, Leasure-Earnhardt A, Scrufari C. Models for success: A set of case studies examining gleaning efforts across the United States. Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, Vermont Law School. 2017.
2 CCFP-Owen 2011 - Owen J, Rosch J, Smith S. Preventing childhood obesity: Policy and practice strategies for North Carolina. Durham, NC: Center for Child & Family Policy (CCFP), Duke University; 2011.
3 Hampl 2005 - Hampl JS, Levinson SL, Garcia LW, Johnston CS. Project GLEAN: Evaluation of a school-based, gleaned-food distribution project. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture. 2005;25(2):5-15.
4 Hoisington 2001 - Hoisington A, Butkus SN, Garrett S, Beerman K. Field gleaning as a tool for addressing food security at the local level: Case study. Journal of Nutrition Education. 2001;33(1):43-48.
5 Marshman 2019 - Marshman J, Scott S. Gleaning in the 21st century: Urban food recovery and community food security in Ontario, Canada. Canadian Food Studies. 2019;6(1):100-119.
6 Vitiello 2014 - Vitiello D, Grisso JA, Whiteside KL, Fischman R. From commodity surplus to food justice: Food banks and local agriculture in the United States. Agriculture and Human Values. 2014.
7 Sonmez 2016 - Sonmez E, Lee D, Gomez MI, et al. Improving food bank gleaning operations: An application in New York State. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 2016;98(2):549-563.
8 Sisson 2016 - Sisson LG. Food recovery program at farmers’ markets increases access to fresh fruits and vegetables for food insecure individuals. Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition. 2016;11(3):337-339.
9 NRDC-Gunders 2012 - Gunders D. Wasted: How America is losing up to 40 percent of its food from farm to fork to landfill. New York City: National Resources Defense Council; 2012.
10 FAO-Food waste - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Food wastage footprint & climate change.
11 Gomez 2018 - Gomez, M. (2018, February 8). Gleaning to reduce food waste and food insecurity in America. Cornell Business News. Retrieved September 1, 2026.
12 Hic 2016 - Hic C, Pradhan P, Rybski D, Kropp JP. Food surplus and its climate burdens. Environmental Science and Technology. 2016;50(8):4269-4277.
13 CCAFS-Campbell 2012 - Campbell B. Is eating local good for the climate? Thinking beyond food miles. Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), CGIAR Research Programs. 2012.
14 Valeriote 2025 - Valeriote, E. (2025, November 18). With hunger on the rise, urban gleaners seek to strengthen local food security. Civil Eats. Retrieved September 1, 2026.
15 Project Drawdown-Food waste - Project Drawdown. Climate solutions: Reduced food waste.
16 Ata 2019 - Ata B, Lee D, Sonmez E. Dynamic volunteer staffing in multicrop gleaning operations. Operations Research. 2019;67(2):295-597.
17 Lee 2017d - Lee D, Sonmez E, Gomez MI, et al. Combining two wrongs to make two rights: Mitigating food insecurity and food waste through gleaning operations. Food Policy. 2017;68:40-52.
18 Brooks 2023 - Greatorex Brooks, E., & McInerney, M. (2023). Community-based fruit and vegetable prescription programs: A scoping review. Journal of Nutritional Science, 12, e99.
19 CDC MMWR-Lee 2022 - Lee, S.H., Moore, L.V., Park, S., Harris, D.M., & Blanck, H.M. (2022). Adults meeting fruit and vegetable intake recommendations — United States, 2019. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 71, 1–9.
20 Karpyn 2022 - Karpyn, A., Pon, J., Grajeda, S. B., Wang, R., Merritt, K. E., Tracy, T., May, H., Sawyer-Morris, G., Halverson, M. M., & Hunt, A. (2022). Understanding impacts of SNAP fruit and vegetable incentive program at farmers’ markets: Findings from a 13 state RCT. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(12), 7443.
21 Cafer 2023 - Cafer, A., Rosenthal, M., Smith, P., McGrew, D., Bhattacharya, K., Rong, Y., Salkar, M., Yang, J., Nguyen, J., & Arnold, A. (2023). Examining the context, logistics, and outcomes of food prescription programs: A scoping review. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 19(1), 57–68.
22 Haslam 2022 - Haslam, A., Gill, J., Taniguchi, T., Love, C., & Jernigan, V. B. (2022). The effect of food prescription programs on chronic disease management in primarily low-income populations: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrition and Health, 28(3), 389–400.
23 CAFS-NGP - Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS). National Gleaning Project (NGP): Legal & policy resources, gleaning map, NGP reports & research. Vermont Law School, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National Agricultural Library.
24 SOSA-Gleaning - Society of St. Andrew (SOSA). The gleaning network: Gleaning America's fields feeding America's hungry.
25 CA AFB-Farm to family - California Association of Food Banks (CA AFB). Farm to family: Alleviating hunger and improving nutrition.
26 AHRA-AGP - Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance (AHRA). Arkansas gleaning project (AGP).
27 FRESHFARM-Gleaning - FRESHFARM Markets. (n.d.). Food access: Food recovery - FRESHFARM works closely with our network of farmers and producers to glean tens of thousands of pounds of fresh and local food at our markets each year. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
28 FFP-Gleaning - Food for People (FFP). The food bank for Humboldt County: Gleaning program.
29 AAH-Gleaning - Ag Against Hunger (AAH). Agricultural community feeds the hungry through gleaning and harvesting.
30 Food Forward - Food Forward. (n.d.). Recovering surplus: Advancing nutrition equity. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
31 SF DPW-Urban harvesting - San Francisco Department of Public Works (SF DPW). Urban harvesting program: Gather and give back to the community.
32 VH-Gleaning - Village Harvest (VH). Sharing our gardens, gleaning, and teaching to strengthen our community.
33 DC Food-Glean - DC Food Recovery Working Group. Glean: Organizations to glean with & where to buy gleaned food.
34 OFH-Glean team - Ozarks Food Harvest (OFH). New 'Glean Team' part of OFH's goal to distribute more healthy food to area pantries.
35 HGI-Gleaning - Heartside Gleaning Initiative (HGI). Gleaning in the Heartside neighborhood Grand Rapids, Michigan.
36 SLC-FruitShare - Salt Lake City Sustainability (SLC). SLC FruitShare.
37 Urban Gleaners - Urban Gleaners. (n.d.). Food for all: Gleaning reduces waste and hunger simultaneously. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
38 PFTP-Harvest - Portland Fruit Tree Project (PFTP). Share in the harvest: Harvest programs.
39 Bragg 2025 - Bragg, M. A., Lissain, N., Hall, Z. G., Edghill, B. N., Cassidy, O., Dupuis, R., & Watson, K. (2025). Rewriting the narrative: Advancing justice and equity in the U.S. food system. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 22(4), 638.
40 Friedman 2021a - Friedman, E. (2021). Policy approaches to healthier food banking. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 121(9), A13.
41 Brookings-George 2021 - George, C., & Tomer, A. (2021, August 17). Beyond ‘food desertsʼ: America needs a new approach to mapping food insecurity. Brookings Metro.
42 RAND-Asch 2023 - Asch, B.J., Rennane, S., Trail, T.E., Berdie, L., Ward, J.M., Troyanker, D., Gadwah-Meaden, C., & Kempf, J. (2023). Food insecurity among members of the armed forces and their dependents. RAND Corporation Research Report.
43 Dave 2024 - Dave, J. M., Chen, T. A., Castro, A. N., White, M. A., Onugha, E. A., Zimmerman, S., & Thompson, D. (2024). Urban–rural disparities in food insecurity and weight status among children in the United States. Nutrients, 16(13), 2132.
44 Grier-Welch 2021 - Grier-Welch, A., Marquis, J., Spence, M., Kavanagh, K., & Anderson Steeves, E. T. (2021). Food acquisition behaviors and perceptions of food pantry use among food pantry clients in rural Appalachia. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 60(1), 70–88.
45 ARC-Food insecurity 2023 - Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC); Karen, Karp & Partners (KK&P). (2023). Food insecurity in the Appalachian region. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
46 Ginsberg 2019 - Ginsburg, Z. A., Bryan, A. D., Rubinstein, E. B., Frankel, H. J., Maroko, A. R., Schechter, C. B., Cooksey Stowers, K., & Lucan, S. C. (2019). Unreliable and difficult-to-access food for those in need: A qualitative and quantitative study of urban food pantries. Journal of Community Health, 44(1), 16–31.
47 Oldroyd 2022 - Oldroyd, L., Eskandari, F., Pratt, C., & Lake, A. A. (2022). The nutritional quality of food parcels provided by food banks and the effectiveness of food banks at reducing food insecurity in developed countries: A mixed‐method systematic review. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 35(6), 1202–1229.
48 Relph 2025 - Relph, N.K. (2025, January 24). Gleaning: The ancient practice fighting modern food waste. Grist. Retrieved September 1, 2026.
49 Bize 2019 - Bize, A. (2019, March 29). Editors’ forum: Gleaning. Society for Cultural Anthropology. Retrieved September 1, 2026.
50 S 2560 - 100th Congress 1987-1988. (1988). Senate (S) 2560: Hunger Prevention Act of 1988.
51 HR 2428 - 104th Congress 1995-1996. (1996). House of Representatives (HR) 2428: To encourage the donation of food and grocery products to nonprofit organizations for distribution to needy individuals by giving the Model Good Samaritan Food Donation Act the full force and effect of law.
52 SNAP-History - U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). A short history of SNAP.
53 Dubowitz 2021 - Dubowitz, T., Dastidar, M. G., Troxel, W. M., Beckman, R., Nugroho, A., Siddiqi, S., Cantor, J., Baird, M., Richardson, A. S., Hunter, G. P., Mendoza-Graf, A., & Collins, R. L. (2021). Food insecurity in a low-income, predominantly African American cohort following the COVID-19 pandemic. American Journal of Public Health, 111(3), 494–497.
54 Siddiqi 2021 - Siddiqi, S. M., Cantor, J., Dastidar, M. G., Beckman, R., Richardson, A. S., Baird, M. D., & Dubowitz, T. (2021). SNAP participants and high levels of food insecurity in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Health Reports, 136(4), 457–465.
55 CSPI-Fielding-Singh 2026 - Fielding-Singh, P., & Johnson, J. (2026, July). One year later: How H.R. 1’s SNAP policy changes are reverberating across the food system. Washington, D.C.: Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and Global Food Institute at the George Washington University.
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