Food Share

 

The PFP practices farming that is sustainable for the earth and shares the resulting bounty by making the choice for fresh and nutritious food widely available in our community. The PFP is part of a growing international effort to link support for sustainable agriculture to the work to end hunger and increase access to affordable, nutritious food.  Through our Food Share program, we work toward community food security, a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice.  Through this program, the PFP shares good food, and in the process, develops and strengthens the infrastructure for a just and sustainable food system. A just food system provides access to quality food to all, regardless of income level. A sustainable food system gives careful attention to how food is produced, and therefore to the level of health that accompanies that food - health of the land, health of those who work it, and health of the families and communities who consume its bounty.   

 

As part of our mission to improve access to healthy, locally-grown food (focused in particular on our low-income neighbors), the Food Share program offers a three-pronged response: strengthening the local food system infrastructure (managing the downtown farmers' market as a non-emergency source of produce that leverages public assistance low-income individuals receive); providing subsidized season-long CSA shares of farm produce to qualifying families who desire to eat healthy, connect to the source of their food and be part of a community supporting local agriculture; and donating produce through partners who serve our neediest neighbors and who help us ensure that high quality fresh food is part of the diet of those who are accessing emergency services. The result is that 25% of the 60 tons of produce harvested at the PFP is made available to low-income families.  

 

Each week, the PFP donates freshly-harvested produce to local emergency food providers: soup kitchens, food pantries and shelters, which supply meals to 500-700 individuals each week.  Individuals whose current life circumstances mean that they need to rely on social services may not often receive fresh, high quality produce, often receiving instead food "leftover" by the mainstream food system. In addition to distributing food, we support these individuals to receive information about preparing seasonal produce by conducting cooking demonstrations at residential programs and hosting farm visits with youth.  We supply a weekly source of fresh, chemical-free vegetables to: 

 

Brookhaven Transitional Living Facility

Dutchess Outreach Food Pantry

Gannett House

Grace Smith House Shelter

Hillcrest House

Lunch Box

River Haven Youth Shelter

River Haven Transitional Living Community

The price of a PFP CSA share of farm produce reflects the costs of growing quality, sustainable food. This price is prohibitively high for some members of the community who desire to support sustainable agriculture and to secure nutrient-rich fresh produce for their families. Like all shareholders, sponsored shareholders receive a generous quantity of fresh, local food weekly throughout the growing season and become a part of the PFP community, which supports learning experiences about food security, sustainable agriculture and using fresh produce to prepare healthy meals. 

 

We are committed to ensuring access to our CSA for low-income neighbors.  Sponsored shareholders pay an amount they can afford toward the cost of the share.  We raise funds to help off-set the full cost of a share for those who cannot otherwise afford to participate in the CSA.  We are also able to accept food stamps. Qualifying families are those that receive some form of public assistance and/or earn less than 200% of the federal poverty line. Some 30 households, reflecting the diversity of Poughkeepsie and representing 70-90 individuals - half of them children - participate in this program. If you would like to receive support, know someone who might, or if you would like to help sponsor a share, please let us know.

 

The PFP provides leadership—and vegetables—for the Poughkeepsie Main Street Farmers Market, a market that fills a critical void – with no supermarket in the City of Poughkeepsie and concentrations of poverty at rates twice the national level, many downtown residents have very limited access to fresh vegetables. This urban market is centrally located, an easy walk both for the many people who work in downtown Poughkeepsie, and for low-income residents, many of whom lack the transportation needed to access the area’s supermarkets. By managing the City of Poughkeepsie Farmers’ Market and ensuring that its vendors can accept food stamps, Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program coupons for low income seniors and WIC recipients and other benefit programs, the PFP increases access to fresh, healthy food for all. More than a dozen vendors serve over 6,000 customers at the market each year, and more than 25% of fresh produce sales were made using benefit programs.  In addition to increasing food access for those in need, the market establishes a non-emergency source of fresh food in the heart of the city.

We are an urban farm, located just three miles from the intersection of Market and Main Streets in downtown Poughkeepsie. In growing approximately 60 tons of vegetables each year within the city limits, the PFP is part of an urban agriculture movement that is revitalizing communities and increasing food self-sufficiency by growing healthy food in cities.

Please consider supporting this work with a tax-deductible financial contribution. We also welcome the gift of your time - what we do wouldn’t be possible without the support of committed volunteers.