The Morris Farm Trust and Chewonki Foundation co-sponsored this year’s community forum on food security at Chewonki on March 4.  The theme was food recovery, or ways to prevent food from going into the waste stream by using it for humans or animals, reducing unwanted food by more carefully making purchases and using leftovers, and composting waste or converting it to energy.

About 40 percent of food in the United States goes uneaten, according to keynote speaker Hannah Semler of Healthy Acadia. Even so, hunger is rampant, she said. In Maine alone, 15.8 percent of people report skipping meals due to financial reasons, and one in six adults and one in four children struggle with hunger.

A new watchword this year was gleaning, the ancient practice of allowing the poor, mostly widows, orphans, or cottagers, into the fields to collect food not taken during the main part of the harvest. Rules were established so that some of the produce was left behind, and gleaning became a sort of early welfare program.

People once had access to farms that they don’t have today, Semler said. So middlemen, either for-profit or non-profit, have to work with farmers to help them dispose of unwanted produce and help those in need get food.

Modern gleaners, like the Merrymeeting Gleaners, collect what is left behind after the commercial harvest on farms — mostly fruit and vegetables that might not be attractive enough to be sold in supermarkets or farmer’s markets. The volunteer group collected 14,000 pounds of produce last fall for food banks and other organizations to support low-income people. Semler’s group Healthy Acadia also does gleaning and organizes places for farmers to drop off produce that will not be going to market. She said new rules are needed to indemnify farmers and supermarkets who would be willing to give produce, milk and other commodities to food banks, homeless shelters, senior housing, and other entities, but don’t now because they fear legal repercussions.

More also has to be done to teach people what to do with the produce that is gathered to make healthy meals for their families. Maine SNAP-Ed provides classes for people using SNAP benefits and others on how to construct healthy meals on a budget. Tasha Gerkin, educator for the program, also partners with schools, food pantries, gleaning programs and farmer’s markets to help people make quality, nutritious meals using seasonal and inexpensive produce. Gerkin said the program is facing severe budget cuts through the state, even though it has federal dollars and saves more than it spends by teaching concepts such as eating more healthfully and seasonally to stretch dollars.

She held a mini-cooking class in one of Chewonki’s classrooms as part of a break-out session. The students made crunchy carrot salad, using carrots, lemon yogurt, and raisins, and a spinach, black bean, tomato and onion salad with a homemade dressing. The students learned good techniques for handling food and using implements. The budget for both dishes was less than $15, and provided complete proteins as well as healthy alternatives to standard American fare that focuses on meat as the main dish.

Another break-out session looked at federal and state food waste policies, with a focus on a new piece of legislation in the Maine Legislature – the Maine Food Recovery Act. It would strengthen liability protection for food donors, and add protections for farms and businesses that sell food at a discount. It would also provide a tax credit to farmers who donate food to fight hunger, and create a commission that would develop recommendations for a statewide strategy to reduce food waste, including guidance for homes, schools, businesses, towns and large organizations, such as hospitals and universities. The programs would include food recovery and composting efforts to save money and reduce food waste in the landfills. This session was facilitated by Ryan Parker of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, and Emily Horton of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree’office.

Other sessions offered more information on gleaning; a program in Waterville about food equity, a system to make sure everyone in the community has affordable access to nutritious food; an in-depth look at the “Hunger Pains” report on hunger in Maine; nutrition incentives in Maine; helping seniors with nutrition; teaching children about locally grown food; and a tour of Chewonki’s nutrient management and food recovery programs.

Once food is in the home, school, or other institution, if it is not eaten, it typically goes into landfills and makes up a large percentage of them. A landfill’s’ design doesn’t break down food waste. It prevents it from being exposed to oxygen. Another break-out session discussed doing a composting system in homes and schools, and was facilitated by Mark King of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Much of the discussion focused on school composting and the possibility of using third-party composters and energy producers to assist if the school isn’t fully committed to having a compost system on-site.

A panel discussion at the end of the day discussed the food recovery hierarchy, which has unwanted food as the most important focus in food recovery, followed by providing food for hungry  people, using food to feed animals, composting to capture the nutrients in the food and reusing it on farms or in gardens, energy production using anaerobic systems, down to the least desirable portion of the hierarchy, disposal in landfills.