Everyone Deserves Access to Fresh Food. 

Fighting hunger and building healthy, viable food systems go hand in hand.

mission: 

Farmer Foodshare reshapes the disconnected food system by removing barriers to growing and accessing local food.

how we do it: 

Our first strategy is a simple farmers market-based approach through which volunteers collect food and monetary donations from market shoppers, buy from the farmers at market, and donate the resulting food to a local hunger relief agency. These Donation Stations can now be found at nearly 40 markets around the state. This incredibly successful effort has allowed fresh food to flow locally and fostered strong community engagement.

Our second strategy, the Wholesale Market, was born out of requests from our community partners, who were seeking a more sustainable model to buy fresh, local produce. The Wholesale Market purchases food from small to mid-sized farms looking for new markets, and sells it to nonprofits serving low-wealth communities, schools, groceries and other institutions. 

As our initial strategies became more successful, we found that education and support were needed to make the services more widely accessible. Along with our partners, we worked to develop Food Ambassadors to increase the ability of agencies and individuals to use and enjoy fresh produce. Currently, our Food Ambassadors focus on providing Durham Public School students the opportunity to sample fresh food and learn about how it's grown.

Community Foodshare, a neighborhood-based program that brings community members together to receive biweekly shares of food from local growers as well as nutrition education, is one of our developing initiatives.

Together, these strategies provide additional markets for farmers, expand food access for all, and build a community around food.