Long Table Harvest gleans excess produce and donates it to local agencies to be distributed to food insecure individuals around Columbia, Dutchess and Greene Counties.
There are a few ways we can work with you:
The primary way in which we work with farms is by picking up crops which have already been harvested. From small scale to large farms, we have the capacity to work with you.
Our primary gleaning days are Mondays and Tuesdays from June through November.
Additionally, we can bring volunteers to your farm to glean crops for around two hours. We are currently prioritizing working with orchards to glean fruit.
Most farmers donate for a variety of reasons:
- Quality produce that is blemished / unsaleable
- Non-machine harvestable crops
- Bumper crops
- Too many successions ripening at once
- Impending storm or frost
- End of season surplus of storage crops
- Not enough labor / time to harvest
Specifics on tax-deductions, liability, volunteer management and records:
Donations are tax-deductible to farms! We keep detailed harvest records to track your donations closely, which will be submitted to you before the end of the year along with a statement of our 501-c3 status and that the produce will be used in compliance with the requirements of I.R.C.70(e)(3). More information on tax deductions here.
We properly train, supervise and hold liability coverage for all volunteers who glean with us. We are happy to provide a certificate of coverage if necessary. We do our best to keep cars to a minimum through carpooling. We supply all harvesting tools and crates.
Your donations are protected by the Federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act. This law:
- Protects you from liability when you donate to a non-profit organization;
- Protects you from civil and criminal liability should the product donated in good faith later cause harm to the recipient;
For more information: Feeding America.
What we need from you:
- If you have already harvested produce post-farmers market or CSA distribution that you would like to donate, we will happily make those collections. We can do this in addition to gleaning in-field or as our sole activity on your farm.
Please fill out our Donate Produce form so that we can keep track of your information in our database.