Food Security: Rescuing Food, Increasing Yields

Posted on December 3, 2018
By Natasha Pei

bunches of vegetablesAccess to fresh, affordable nutritious food is an important aspect of many local poverty reduction strategies. In Sault Ste. Marie, the Poverty Reduction Roundtable is addressing this pillar through a food resource centre called Harvest Algoma. Harvest Algoma was established by United Way Sault Ste. Marie & Algoma District, and the United Way continues to operate the facility.

The food resource distribution centre is creating a more efficient local food system, and has:

  • Increased the amount of rescued food from around the community that otherwise would have been wasted
  • Opened the door for regional surplus re-distribution to Sault Ste. Marie, and
  • Increased farmers’ yields.

With Harvest Algoma’s freezers, coolers, large commercial kitchen and cooking capacity, they have the scarce ability to accept and re-distribute perishables – meats, dairy, and fresh produce. If the food is in jeopardy of being spoiled, they have the means to preserve it – such as making applesauce from a large batch of apples.

Harvest Algoma re-distributes the food to emergency food providers such as soup kitchens, food banks and other community agencies – some of which have never been able to accept beef donations before!

What’s more, they also have training programs and host food-related clubs; farmers and food vendors now have a space where they can process or cook their food to sell or export their products; and they are empowering the community to create food-related jobs and businesses.

With so much food waste and so many people going hungry at the same time, this initiative has created a community bridge to reduce hunger, reduce poverty, and increase people’s opportunities to get skills to become involved in the community.

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Topics:
Poverty Reduction, Cities Reducing Poverty, food security


Natasha Pei

By Natasha Pei

Natasha Pei brings online content to life and engages our members in the Vibrant Communities learning centre for poverty reduction. Natasha's involvement with Tamarack began with the Communities First: Impacts of Community Engagement (CFICE) project, where she worked as a Research Assistant in the Poverty Reduction Hub, studying effective ways community-campus engagement can be undertaken to have real benefits for the community.

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