Questions

That is a good answer, and we do not ask a farm to change an arrangement that works. We ask one further thing: whether there is produce you still cannot sell that the organizations you already give to cannot take.

If the answer is no, that is the end of it. Many farms already have a good outlet and we respect that.

Some farms that already donate still have one crop or one load their usual receiver cannot absorb: a field of a single vegetable, or a volume larger than the cooler space available. That is the load we ask about. If an organization can collect it, we give the farm its contact.

An estimated 13% of the fruits and vegetables grown in Canada go unharvested or are discarded after harvest, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Harvest labour and grading sit with the farm, and we know that is the real cost. Where produce is already picked, graded out, or packed and unsold, we can give you the contact of an organization that collects. Tell us what is in the yard and what condition it is in, and we will tell you who collects it. Where we work, region by region explains how each chapter is assigned its area.

Three things: we ask farms one question, we hand every yes to an organization that collects, and we record every outcome. How we work sets all three out in full.

Students in each chapter build and maintain a list of farm businesses in their assigned area and ask each one whether it has surplus or unsold produce. Every yes is handed to a food bank or food rescue organization that collects it with its own vehicle. Members record every contact and every outcome, so the chapter knows exactly which farms it has asked and which are still open. Alongside that, we advocate for a food system that stops treating edible food as waste. The work happens at school, at lunch, under a Teacher Advisor.

The farm donates the produce, and the receiving organization collects it with its own vehicle. Our members keep the list, make the contact and keep the record. Students never handle food. A farm always knows who it is dealing with, because the same chapter stays with the same area across the season, and every contact is written down with its date.

Everything we do serves UN Sustainable Development Goal 12, target 12.3.

These are the standards every chapter works to.

• Every farm on the list is a commercial farm business, recorded with the source and the date it was checked. We never ask about produce from backyard, home or community gardens.
• Every contact and every outcome is recorded.
• Every yes goes to a food bank or food rescue organization that collects it, always.
• A farm hears back from the same chapter that first made contact with it.
• Every time.

Produce you cannot sell can go to a food bank or food rescue organization that collects it with its own vehicle, instead of going back into the ground or into landfill.

• One short email with one question, and one follow-up at most.
• A named contact each season.
• A written record of every contact, held by the chapter that made it.

We treat every farm as a busy business, because it is. One chapter holds one assigned area, so a grower hears from the same chapter from first contact to the end of the season. Our goals page sets out what we are working toward.

We say what we do, on the page for farms.

The chapter gives the farm the published contact of an organization that collects, and the farm arranges the pickup with it directly.

Food banks and community food organizations differ in what they can take. A small organization may not be able to absorb a field’s worth of one vegetable. A local food bank is named only after it has confirmed in writing that it can collect from that area and take that volume.

The default is Second Harvest’s From the Farm program, which publishes free farm pickup of surplus and grade-outs of any volume across Canada. We never promise a pickup that the collecting organization has not confirmed.

No. A farm’s details go to the receiving organization, with the farm’s agreement, and nowhere else. We record a published business contact and nothing about any individual beyond that. We do not collect personal addresses or personal mobile numbers. If a farm wants its name used in something we publish, we ask first and we keep the answer on file.

The standard is simple: the produce is edible and fit to eat.

Surplus is not the same as spoiled. What we ask about is food that was grown to be sold and was not sold: a crop that came in heavier than the market wanted, fruit the wrong size or shape for a supermarket shelf, a load left over when a contract changed. It is graded, it is edible, and in most cases it is already packed. Our page on surplus produce sets out how we judge it. The farm decides what leaves the yard, and the receiving organization confirms it can use it before anything moves. How we handle the details a farm sends us is set out in our privacy and cookies policy.

Students. Andrew Adair is the Founder. HQ approves and supports chapters, and each chapter is run by its own students, with named roles and a Teacher Advisor at its school. Our contact page reaches HQ directly.

The Neighbour’s Table is a student-run nonprofit. Each chapter is a club of its own school, works to the same standards as every other chapter, and holds its own assigned area of farms. Any eligible high school in Canada can apply to open a chapter, and the founding work is in Ontario.

The model is national. Our chapters page explains how a chapter is approved and how areas are assigned. How we work sets out the roles.

Every chapter keeps the same records: the farms on its list, the source and date for each one, every contact, and the outcome of each one. That record is the reason a farm can trust a group of students, and it is how we will be able to say what we have done without guessing.

Every chapter, always, to the standards every chapter works to.

Support the work sets out what is genuinely useful to us, which is people and farms.

To a food bank or food rescue organization that collects it with its own vehicle. The default is Second Harvest’s From the Farm program. A local food bank is named to a farm only after it confirms in writing that it can collect from that area.

To help, start on the get involved page.

With one short email and one question: “Do you have surplus or grade-out produce this season that you cannot sell?” Pairs draft it from the template, the Outreach Editor reads it before it is sent, and a named student signs it with the school’s street address. Growers are busy and the first contact respects that. Our page for food banks explains the receiving side.

From a page your business publishes. Every farm on a chapter’s list comes from a public source, and the record carries the exact address it came from and the date a student checked it. If you would rather we did not write again, say so and the record is closed that day.

The List Builder builds and checks the list, and the Records and Hours Clerk keeps the farm record current. Both are named roles held by students.

The record is closed the same day and nothing further is sent. Support the work sets out the ways a farm, a school or a student can be useful.

A first contact and one follow-up, about two weeks later. If there is no reply after that, the chapter stops permanently.

Every message carries the school’s street address and a line that says how to stop: reply with the word STOP. Nothing goes out from a bulk tool. The Outreach Editor reads every message before it is sent.

No chapter sends more than 40 first contacts in a week. HQ assigns each chapter its own area and keeps a shared do-not-contact list, so no farm is contacted by two chapters.

Starting a chapter at your school is the way in. First get the principal’s written approval and a Teacher Advisor, then send HQ the Chapter Application Form. A chapter aims for 8 to 12 students, meets once a week at lunch, and is assigned an area of farms by HQ. If your school already has a chapter, ask its Chapter Lead how to join and take a role. Support the work sets out what else helps.

A room at lunch, once a week. A chapter is a club of your own school, run by your own students. The students hold named roles, keep their own records, and report on their own assigned area. The school provides a room at lunch, a Teacher Advisor for about 30 minutes a month (plus attendance at sessions where the board requires it), and approval to use school email for club business. The principal approves the chapter in writing before anyone is recruited.

It is real work with a visible result. Students learn to build and maintain a list, write to a business and be taken seriously, see a task through, and keep a record that stands up. The work sits under three UN Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 2 on hunger, Goal 12 on responsible consumption and production, and Goal 13 on climate, which gives students a clear line between what they do on a Tuesday lunchtime and a global target.

One session, 45 minutes, once a week at lunch. The work is done in the session, never as homework. Members are unpaid and this is a standing commitment, not a one-off shift. A role stays with you for the season. The roles in a chapter. That is what joining means.

Build the farm list, draft emails to growers in pairs from the template, send the single follow-up, and record every outcome. Each role owns one part of that. Ask at the address on our contact page, with your Teacher Advisor copied.

Because students are the ones who will live with the food system that gets built. Every chapter role is held by a student, and a Teacher Advisor at the school is copied on every message that leaves the chapter.

Andrew Adair is the Founder of The Neighbour’s Table. Questions about how a chapter is approved can go to the address on our contact page.

We publish seven figures from the research behind our work, each with its source named. No numbers about our own activity exist yet, and we do not imply any.

The seven figures come from Second Harvest and Value Chain Management International, Statistics Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, PROOF at the University of Toronto, and Food Banks Canada.

Every figure on this site names its source. Ask about any of them at the address on our contact page.