From Washington's Fields to Families' Tables: How Local Farmers Are Fighting Hunger, One Harvest at a Time

Somewhere in Washington right now, a truck is being loaded with potatoes that might otherwise never leave the packing shed — not because they're bad, but because they're the "wrong" size for a grocery store shelf. Instead of being discarded, they're headed to a food bank.

That journey — from farm to a family's dinner table — is the quiet engine behind Feeding Washington's work. Over the past fifteen years, the organization has moved nearly 1 billion pounds of fresh produce to hunger-relief organizations across the state and beyond. But that number, staggering as it is, doesn't happen without the farmers, packers, and shippers who make the choice, season after season, to share what they grow.

"Feeding hungry people is at the center of our work every day," says Rod Wieber, Feeding Washington’s, Executive Director, "and we could not do any of it without our partnerships across the agricultural community."

That community is a wide one. Feeding Washington works with growers and shippers across tree fruit, potatoes, carrots, melons, onions, and a range of vegetable row crops, as well as partners in the dairy and protein industries. Together, they help ensure that abundance — literal tons of nutritious food — reaches food banks throughout Washington State, and through the Feeding America network, communities nationwide.

Over the last two years, that mission has gotten a boost from the Washington State Department of Agriculture, which has awarded Feeding Washington several grants aimed squarely at food insecurity — funding that helps the organization work even more closely with Washington growers to recover food that might otherwise go to waste and get it into the hands of people who need it.

Easterday Produce is one of the partners making that possible, shipping nutritious potatoes to food banks across the state. For Matt Wood of Easterday, the partnership is one of those rare wins that helps everyone at once.

"Helping to feed Washingtonians who are food insecure, while also supporting Washington farmers and packers, is a win for everyone," Wood says. He explains that working with Feeding Washington lets the company put to good use the sizes and packaging of potatoes that don't always have a retail home — food that might otherwise be discarded. "Feeding Washington is a long-standing partner of ours, and we enjoy working together to help provide quality food for those in need."

It's a sentiment echoed by Feeding Washington's Executive Director, Rod Wieber, who sees the state's agricultural community — from small family farms to large-scale operations — as essential to the mission.

"Working hand in hand with small to large size companies across Washington's ag community is so critical to feeding our neighbors who are most vulnerable," Wieber says.

In a state known for growing food for the world, that same abundance is quietly, steadily feeding the people next door.