Bob Dole: “Sometimes the produce cannot be sold. Sometimes it is underweight or not a perfect shape, like this sweet potato I show…”

“Sometimes the produce cannot be sold. Sometimes it is underweight or not a perfect shape, like this sweet potato I show you in my hand. This would be rejected because it is not the exact specification. Other times it is simply surplus food, more than the grocery stores can handle, but it is still perfectly good to eat. Imagine the expense to that farmer in dumping 20,000 pounds of tomatoes each day during his harvest season. And this cannot be good for the environment. In fact, food is the single largest component of our solid waste stream--more than yard trimmings or even newspapers. Some of it does decompose, but it often takes several years. Other food just sits in landfills, literally mummified. Putting this food to good use, through gleaning, will reduce the amount of waste going to our already overburdened landfills. I am so appreciative of my friends at the Environmental Defense Fund for working closely with me on this issue. Gleaning also helps the farmer because he does not have to haul off and plow under crops that do not meet exact specifications of grocery chains, and it certainly helps the hungry, by giving them not just any food but food that is both nutritious and fresh. The Society of Saint Andrew is the only comprehensive program in North Carolina that gleans available produce and then sorts, packages, processes, transports, and delivers excess food to feed the hungry.”