Federal Farm to Food Bank program cuts down on food waste and helps farmers

Published February 6, 2024 at 7:33 AM CST

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Volunteers working at the Northern Illinois Food Bank. To date, it's brought in 400,000 more pounds of food because of a federal program that connects farms with food pantries in an effort to cut down on food waste. (Northern Illinois Food Bank)

Some 160 billion pounds of food go to waste each year in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm to Food Bank program cuts down on that waste by connecting local farmers and food pantries. But the program’s funding depends on the next farm bill.

Harvest Public Media contributor Peter Medlin reports.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.