Information for Farmers
If you are a farmer interested in donating surplus crops to Boston Area Gleaners for the first time, or if you have further questions, please call Deb Hicks at 443-265-2482 or fill out our online form.
Boston Area Gleaners seeks to enable farmers to give back to their community with the fruits of their labor. We mobilize volunteers on very short notice and work according to farmers' schedules and needs. Most gleaning trips involve small groups of around 10 volunteers for 2-3 hours of work. Volunteers are supervised by experienced staff and vehicles are kept to a minimum.
Some reasons farmers donate their crops to us include:
- Bumper crops
- Maintenance harvesting of crops such as kale, summer squash, cucumbers, beans, etc.
- Succession crops ripen at once
- Imperfections that make produce unmarketable
- Impending storm or frost
- No time or staff to harvest
- Assistance with harvesting crops planted for donation
- End of season surplus of storage crops (such as winter squash, apples, and root vegetables)
How It Works
- produce quantity and quality
- harvest dates that would work for the grower
- number of volunteer pickers needed to complete the harvest
- parking availability
Boston Area Gleaners is fully insured, and we provide accurate harvest records. Farmer references are available upon request.
