A not-for-profit organization providing a sustainable solution to feed food insecure communities and mitigate food waste.

Your Produce Recovery and Waste Solution

June 2024

Welcome to Food Forward’s Wholesale Recovery Program quarterly update.

Since its founding in 2009, Food Forward has diverted over 405 million pounds of fruits and vegetables from landfills and into food insecure communities free of charge.

Our refrigerated warehouse in Bell, California is the receiving and distribution hub for over 200,000 pounds of daily donations from the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market, its surrounding district, and from growers and shippers across the region and the country. This is enough produce to meet the daily recommended servings for more than 270,000 people.

VOLVO X FOOD FORWARD

Electrifying our fleet

Food Forward now has a Volvo VNR Electric truck on the road, transporting surplus produce donations throughout Southern California.

This major step in Food Forward’s electromobility journey is thanks to a partnership with Volvo and support from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) through its Community Emission Reduction Grant Program (CERGP) to offset the costs of adopting electric trucks and infrastructure.

The Volvo VNR Electric truck will enable Food Forward to recover and donate more produce, ensuring that our work to fight hunger and to mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing food waste will have the greatest impact and the smallest environmental footprint.

Share the Quarterly Sprout with a friend, sign up for the Fresh Juice newsletter, and learn more about wholesale donations.

LA TIMES, TELEMUNDO, CBS, AND ABC

Food Forward in the news

In case you missed it, Food Forward was recently featured in the Los Angeles Times, and on Telemundo, CBS, and ABC. Check out this coverage to learn more about our produce recovery milestones.

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FOR ALL

Symposium on fresh produce for hunger relief

In April, Food Forward’s Founder and CEO, Rick Nahmias, joined Bayer Vegetable Seed, Community Food Share, and International Fresh Produce Association at a joint symposium with a focus on ensuring that hunger relief organizations have access to fresh produce.

These industry experts came together to discuss the challenges and opportunities hunger relief organizations face in sourcing fresh fruits and vegetables for their programs. They identified key opportunities around increasing collaboration across the supply chain, creating awareness of the barriers to access, and finding solutions to overcome the challenges.

BUILDING GENERATIONAL HEALTH

2023 Impact Report

Photo credit: Jen Serena, Serena Creative

Food Forward bridges the gaps between produce suppliers and people experiencing food insecurity. Our 2023 Impact Report illustrates how donated produce has the power to build healthier communities and to reduce food waste for a more sustainable planet.

Read our 2023 impact

NAMA COMPETITION

Cal Poly SLO partnership

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) Marketing Competition Team chose Food Forward as the client for their 2024 presentation.

Over several months, the Cal Poly NAMA Marketing Team researched, developed, and completed a competition presentation with Food Forward at the center and developed a real marketing plan for Food Forward to implement.

Food Forward is tremendously thankful to the Cal Poly NAMA Marketing Team for choosing our organization as a client and for delivering a fresh marketing plan with details on how we can recover and redistribute more fresh fruits and vegetables by working directly with growers. We look forward to implementing these ideas to partner with players in the produce industry to rescue more high quality produce.

New wholesale donors are always welcome!

wholesalerecovery@foodforward.org

foodforward.org/produce-industry

(323) 307-9882

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