During the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of college students across the U.S. began a remote, nationwide project called Farmlink with the goal of distributing surplus food to food banks and people in need. The program grew to support a fellowship, which guides college and university students through changing food systems; provides a full-time position at a farm, food bank or distributor; and facilitates the students’ creation of a project that would help to strengthen the infrastructure of food systems in their communities.
Riley Bader is a senior at the University of Oregon and one of Farmlink’s six fellows. Stella Delp is the head of community and student programs at Farmlink and one of the founders of the organization. They both join us to discuss their work.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of college students across the U.S. began a remote, nationwide project called Farmlink with the goal of distributing surplus food to food banks and people in need. The program has grown to support a fellowship in which students learn about food systems before spending three months or so working full-time at a farm, a food bank or a distributor. Riley Bader is a senior at the University of Oregon and was chosen as one of Farmlink’s six fellows this year. Stella Delp is the head of community and student programs at Farmlink and one of the founders of the organization. They both join us now. It’s great to have both of you on Think Out Loud.
Stella Delp: Hi, thanks for having us.
Miller: Stella, first, how did Farmlink get started?
Delp: As we all probably remember, in 2020 with the shutdown of schools, a lot of us were sent home from college. So we were sitting on our laptops on Zoom class. All we were told was to keep people safe, you just stay home. And we’re watching the world kind of crumble around us and in that saw a huge increase in food insecurity, something like 70% more folks relying on food banks.
At the same time, shutdown of supply chains. There was an immense amount of food surplus, farmers dumping millions and billions of gallons of milk and burying their food. And so we saw this disconnect between a huge surplus and a big need, and from our laptops at home we started calling farmers, better understanding where the surplus was coming from, and then renting U-Hauls and driving food from farms to food banks.
So that was how we kicked off and today we’ve grown. We have a team of around 25 full-time folks, those of us who started Farmlink finally went back to college and got our degrees, and now we’ve moved around 500 million pounds of food.
Miller: When you started, did you have any experience or knowledge of food systems and distribution and hunger programs? I mean, it’s an immense, complicated system of food systems that you got involved in. I’m just curious how much awareness you had of this when you started.
Delp: You know, I’m learning more every day. I went to Stanford University and studied human biology with a focus in neurobiology and cognitive behavioral health. So obviously a completely different field. But I grew up going to my grandma’s farm who had about two horses and three pigs and whatnot. That was my only experience in food systems, which is not at all the scale that Farmlink is working with.
From early days all of us in our founding team pretty much had no experience in food systems, and what we brought to the table was a willingness to act and we had the time and space to be able to do so. And then it was all about connecting with folks who have made this their life work and leading with curiosity and learning from them.
Miller: Riley, why did you want to take part in this? Why did you apply for the fellowship?
Riley Bader: First of all, it’s such an honor to be here. Thank you so much. And similar to what Stella was describing, the way that I found Farmlink was through a peer of mine who was chosen as a fellow last year, and one of the first things that stood out to me about Farmlink was just how dynamic it is and how it’s filled with people who are maybe not the “most experienced” in agriculture or one thing, but as it grew it became a team of people who care so much that they never stop asking questions.
The way that I came across the website, as I was scrolling through, one of the first things that stood out was just that they act as a bridge between all these different kinds of people. As a public policy student so much of what we learn about, in terms of issues with the world and politics and policy, is that there are so many solutions out there, but a lot of them are just really disconnected, and people are disconnected because there’s just so much going on all the time. And so to see an organization so focused on making these connections and truly making an impact was super exciting to me.
Miller: My understanding, Riley, is the first part of your fellowship happens while you’re still… in your case, in the last few months of your time in college. That’s sort of more of a classroom part before you go to a farm. What have you been learning in the last few months?
Bader: So far, it’s been a little over one month now, and most of the people that we’ve met with have been either internal people who work with Farmlink – so some of them are farmers, others have worked on the internal development of Farmlink – and so I would say some of the two biggest things I’ve learned about so far are just starting to get into the system of systems that is food insecurity and the agriculture industry.
And then also it’s been such a valuable time learning from our CEO and some of the other people who have done so much operational work, because I get such an interesting perspective into how nonprofit development works, and really works when you’re focusing on centering community and all these different kinds of people.
This is more of a statistic, but something that has just stood out to me most in terms of learning about the complexity of food insecurity is just that, of the, it seems like almost 35 billion pounds of produce specifically that goes into surplus every single year, a third of that could easily close the gap in food insecurity throughout the U.S. if we had the transportation and the means to direct that food to people effectively.
And so just a vast statistic like that always puts it in perspective, how close we are yet so far, with that complexity to being able to really, really help people in a meaningful way and already Farmlink is doing that. So learning from these people has been really eye opening in that way.
Miller: Stella, obviously people like Riley are spending many months, and I suppose you could spend many years getting to the heart of this. So it’s not maybe an easy question to answer in thirty seconds, but those numbers are striking. What are the big things getting in the way of having that third of food that’s surplus on farms, in and of itself tackle American hunger? What are the challenges of actually getting that excess food to the mouths that need it?
Delp: That is a big question. You know, when we think about Farmlink, we’re one solution in the food system. Right now we have to feed people today, and what that looks like is food rescue on farms and post-harvest, pre-retail, getting it to a network of food banks and also outside of food banks. Working with churches and community organizations on the ground outside of this larger system.
But looking ahead, there’s so much more work that can be done at a policy level. You know, food insecurity is not necessarily the root issue of poverty. So, better understanding. We are building a name for ourselves by the amount of food that we’re moving and we’re going to continue to feed people today. But when we think about systemic change, that has to be done in collaboration. That’s what Riley was speaking of. It has to be done in collaboration with policymakers, with community members on the ground, those who are experiencing the symptoms of this system firsthand, that is what’s required.
And it’s also about uplifting the voices of folks who are growing our food, who are feeding this country, and better understanding how we support them and also how we get fresh, nutritious food to people in need. It’s not about a lack of access to calories. It’s about nutrition and it’s about long-term health.
Miller: I imagine it’s also, in terms of the immediate mechanism of getting the food to people who need it, it’s also about transportation. I mean, in our earlier segment, we’re hearing the challenges that farmers are facing with big increases in fuel costs among other input costs. Has that hit your organization as well?
Delp: Yeah, it’s interesting. Obviously at the beginning we were driving U-Hauls and it was 2020. It’s a different time. For the most part we’re working with third-party logistics companies and independent drivers. And because Farmlink is not just prioritizing moving directly to the communities around the farm, if we have 20 million potatoes, the surrounding community probably has plenty of potatoes, so we have to get them out to folks who maybe don’t have access to those certain commodities.
So that means driving longer distances. I’m looking at the gas prices every day and they’re changing, going up by $1 over the course of a week, and so of course that is going to affect our prices of when we’re booking loads and none of that is at the cost of the folks who are receiving the food. That means it’s on Farmlink, and obviously that comes down to funding and that’s what our team’s working on every day.
Miller: Riley, has doing this work, just a month in, but thinking about this and thinking about the months to come, has it already changed the way you think about what you see when you walk into a grocery store or go to a restaurant? Has it changed the way you think about food more broadly?
Bader: It completely has. Actually, just to what Stella said, one of the biggest things that’s changed for me is thinking about transportation and funding specifically. Because the third phase of this fellowship is an opportunity for us fellows to conduct research, although I’m not 100% sure what my project will be about, I am really interested in learning about new ways to work with funding and resource gathering in a way that’s more sustainable.
The first thing I think about going into a co-op, specifically, too, is just how expensive things are, but also that comes at a cost that I believe is worth paying – which is just being able to have fair pay for farmers and staff and having these cooperative governance models that, from a policy standpoint work really well and are super innovative, but then still have some of these issues because it means that there’s an exclusivity to people who can’t afford that or it means that there’s like less of a range of foods when you walk into a co-op.
I would love to always go to a specific corner market co-op but sometimes as a college student, too, I just can’t stop thinking about how it’s not the most accessible all the time. So that’s been one of the biggest things that has shifted in my mind.
Miller: Riley and Stella, thanks very much.
Delp : Thank you.
Miller: Riley Bader is a senior at the University of Oregon and one of Farmlink’s six fellows this year. Stella Delp is one of the founding members of Farmlink. She’s the head of community and student programs.
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