Brand new crops are popping up at the Food Shuttle Farm this year, including poblano and cayenne peppers, tomatillos, and chayote squash. These crops are grown specifically for the Latinx community served through Food Shuttle distribution outlets.
Thanks to a recent grant from Burt’s Bees, the Food Shuttle Farm is piloting a process rooted in more non-conventional cultivation practices, and introducing experimental crops grown specifically for the diverse communities across central North Carolina.
Too often, foods unfamiliar or those that do not meet the dietary needs of our neighbors go uneaten. At Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, the pandemic heightened our focus on providing a culturally diverse array of foods and to reduce food waste.
Through feedback provided by our neighbors visiting Mobile Markets and through our partner agencies, the Farm is shifting its production to familiar crops to meet the tastes and preferences of our diverse communities. This invaluable information has led to crop planning adjustments, such as an increase in the field space given to classic southeast staples like watermelons, okra, cantaloupe, collards, summer squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers.
Another practice in reducing food waste has been to promote familiarity of certain types of produce seen frequently through the Food Shuttle’s food recovery programs, like Swiss chard and Chinese cabbage. By making these types of produce more available in a variety of programs like Cooking Matters lessons and at Mobile Markets, it makes them a little more familiar, leading to a reduction in food waste.
According to Jonathan Lee, VP of Agriculture Programs at the Food Shuttle, this is a golden opportunity in farming. “If you’re just looking at metrics and pounds, we would probably eliminate a lot of these crops. But we are specifically meeting the needs of our neighbors, so we are able to grow something that is specific to a particular market, and something that is more familiar to a specific community.”
Providing culturally relevant foods is yet another way that the Food Shuttle is working to deliver food equity for those we serve. Simply by providing familiar foods—either as fresh produce or as non-perishables—the Food Shuttle is reducing food waste and helping to give families, children, and seniors the nutrition they need to lead healthy, active lives.