As July draws to a close and summer nears its end, International Friendship Day is officially here! To celebrate this lovely holiday, members and alumni of The Farmlink Project reminisced on the sweet beginnings of some of their closest friendships.
Farmlink alum Cooper Adams, who joined the organization in its early days of April 2020, on the Farms Team, at a time when the organization was only 20 college students, had barely begun operations. Adams shared with us the story of his first encounter with his best friend and our co-CEO, Ben Collier.
That first summer, a few core Farmlinkers decided to uproot themselves from isolation and move to Idaho to run the organization. Some came from Los Angeles, others from Boston and Washington, DC. Most were strangers. But, as the summer passed and the Farmlink Project quickly found itself a successful national organization, these 10 like-minded college students with the same purpose and vision found themselves as close as a family.
Before arriving, Ben had first been quarantining in Wyoming, an easy five hours away from the team’s home in Idaho. Cooper drove down to pick him up, and, when he arrived, he found him holed up in a small and dimly-lit apartment, having just had a major surgery and barely being able to walk – he had been sustaining himself on cereal for the past two weeks, too. As they got into the car and began the five-hour drive back, however, Cooper quickly realized that he and this stranger were going to be life-long friends. “It was the most immediate click between us,” he said.
This car ride was the first of many road trips together – they later drove across the country from DC to LA, and Cooper even spent Thanksgiving with Ben’s family. “Beyond my family, Ben is genuinely the closest person to me in my life,” he said, calling him his “adopted brother.” They talk every day on the phone and still remain inseparable, and he owes it all to the tight-knit and congenial community that the Farmlink Project has been able to cultivate.
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“Yes, it’s a workplace,” Cooper says, “and yes, it’s an organization that is doing super super important work externally, but I would argue that one of the greatest gifts that Farmlink gives is this community of like-minded people who are really trying to make the world a better place.”
Our Deals Team leads, Mia Foster and Sophia Harvey, reminisced upon their first in-person meeting with then-Deals-Team-lead Caroline Spertus. In December of 2021, after running the team entirely over Zoom for 4 months, the three finally met up for a coffee date at Verve Coffee Roasters in Manhattan Beach, California. They spent the morning “breaking down the Zoom walls” by sharing college stories and Farmlink memories. As proof of their already-close bond, Sophia gifted each of them with a friendship bracelet. “I was instantly drawn to their passion and work ethic,” Sophia said. “I couldn’t have been more grateful to finally meet in person and share some laughs while getting to know each other outside of work conversations.” Mia agrees. “This community is truly so special,” she said. “I couldn’t be more grateful to be a part of it each and every day.”
These changes are great. But how’s it all going to be funded?
During the comment process, Farmlink, as well as other food rescue organizations and coalitions, raised critical questions about how the strategy would be funded and, as a result, which measures are feasible. In particular, we hoped for more clarity beyond the draft’s statement that the USDA would use American Rescue Plan Act and Inflation Reduction Act funds and the EPA would use Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds. Of the 86 programs or initiatives reviewed in the final strategy, only 15 are completely new programs announced in the strategy.
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The other 71 are existing programs or initiatives that either already have a food loss and waste focus or that the national strategy has repackaged as food loss and waste solutions. While we had hopes of new, innovative programs being included in the strategy, the good news with these 71 programs is that most, if not all, are already funded, meaning that they are not reliant on an increasingly turbulent Congress for implementation. Of the 15 new programs, which included the EPA’s new consumer education campaign and several new cooperative agreements with land-grant universities, only 2 had specific funding mechanisms. It has become increasingly clear that food rescue organizations and other stakeholders in the food and agriculture space should not consider this strategy as a new rollout of FLW solutions, programs, and funding but rather as an evaluation of the current resources and solutions and how each can be most effectively utilized to achieve the strategy’s goals. In particular, the framing of many of USDA’s programs as FLW solutions offers opportunities to utilize existing funding, data, and infrastructure to solve one of the United States’s most pressing problems.
Whats next?
Now that we have the strategy, it’s time to truly take advantage of the opportunities it presents. In the immediate future at Farmlink, we’re excited to continue optimizing Section 32 as a critical on-farm food loss solution as we anticipate significant surplus recoveries in the fall. As we move forward, we continue to advocate for dignity with food distribution, emphasizing cultural appropriateness and quality in every pound of food we rescue. As outlined in our comments, food rescue organizations are critical stakeholders and thought partners for the agencies. Our inclusion in the strategy as such is an opportunity we are taking full advantage of to help guide federal action to support farmers, feed communities, and heal the planet.
< BackAs July draws to a close and summer nears its end, International Friendship Day is officially here! To celebrate this lovely holiday, members and alumni of The Farmlink Project reminisced on the sweet beginnings of some of their closest friendships.
Farmlink alum Cooper Adams, who joined the organization in its early days of April 2020, on the Farms Team, at a time when the organization was only 20 college students, had barely begun operations. Adams shared with us the story of his first encounter with his best friend and our co-CEO, Ben Collier.
That first summer, a few core Farmlinkers decided to uproot themselves from isolation and move to Idaho to run the organization. Some came from Los Angeles, others from Boston and Washington, DC. Most were strangers. But, as the summer passed and the Farmlink Project quickly found itself a successful national organization, these 10 like-minded college students with the same purpose and vision found themselves as close as a family.
Before arriving, Ben had first been quarantining in Wyoming, an easy five hours away from the team’s home in Idaho. Cooper drove down to pick him up, and, when he arrived, he found him holed up in a small and dimly-lit apartment, having just had a major surgery and barely being able to walk – he had been sustaining himself on cereal for the past two weeks, too. As they got into the car and began the five-hour drive back, however, Cooper quickly realized that he and this stranger were going to be life-long friends. “It was the most immediate click between us,” he said.
This car ride was the first of many road trips together – they later drove across the country from DC to LA, and Cooper even spent Thanksgiving with Ben’s family. “Beyond my family, Ben is genuinely the closest person to me in my life,” he said, calling him his “adopted brother.” They talk every day on the phone and still remain inseparable, and he owes it all to the tight-knit and congenial community that the Farmlink Project has been able to cultivate.
“Yes, it’s a workplace,” Cooper says, “and yes, it’s an organization that is doing super super important work externally, but I would argue that one of the greatest gifts that Farmlink gives is this community of like-minded people who are really trying to make the world a better place.”
Our Deals Team leads, Mia Foster and Sophia Harvey, reminisced upon their first in-person meeting with then-Deals-Team-lead Caroline Spertus. In December of 2021, after running the team entirely over Zoom for 4 months, the three finally met up for a coffee date at Verve Coffee Roasters in Manhattan Beach, California. They spent the morning “breaking down the Zoom walls” by sharing college stories and Farmlink memories. As proof of their already-close bond, Sophia gifted each of them with a friendship bracelet. “I was instantly drawn to their passion and work ethic,” Sophia said. “I couldn’t have been more grateful to finally meet in person and share some laughs while getting to know each other outside of work conversations.” Mia agrees. “This community is truly so special,” she said. “I couldn’t be more grateful to be a part of it each and every day.”
International Friendship Day
As July draws to a close and summer nears its end, International Friendship Day is officially here! To celebrate this lovely holiday, members and alumni of The Farmlink Project reminisced on the sweet beginnings of some of their closest friendships.
Farmlink alum Cooper Adams, who joined the organization in its early days of April 2020, on the Farms Team, at a time when the organization was only 20 college students, had barely begun operations. Adams shared with us the story of his first encounter with his best friend and our co-CEO, Ben Collier.
That first summer, a few core Farmlinkers decided to uproot themselves from isolation and move to Idaho to run the organization. Some came from Los Angeles, others from Boston and Washington, DC. Most were strangers. But, as the summer passed and the Farmlink Project quickly found itself a successful national organization, these 10 like-minded college students with the same purpose and vision found themselves as close as a family.
Before arriving, Ben had first been quarantining in Wyoming, an easy five hours away from the team’s home in Idaho. Cooper drove down to pick him up, and, when he arrived, he found him holed up in a small and dimly-lit apartment, having just had a major surgery and barely being able to walk – he had been sustaining himself on cereal for the past two weeks, too. As they got into the car and began the five-hour drive back, however, Cooper quickly realized that he and this stranger were going to be life-long friends. “It was the most immediate click between us,” he said.
This car ride was the first of many road trips together – they later drove across the country from DC to LA, and Cooper even spent Thanksgiving with Ben’s family. “Beyond my family, Ben is genuinely the closest person to me in my life,” he said, calling him his “adopted brother.” They talk every day on the phone and still remain inseparable, and he owes it all to the tight-knit and congenial community that the Farmlink Project has been able to cultivate.
“Yes, it’s a workplace,” Cooper says, “and yes, it’s an organization that is doing super super important work externally, but I would argue that one of the greatest gifts that Farmlink gives is this community of like-minded people who are really trying to make the world a better place.”
Our Deals Team leads, Mia Foster and Sophia Harvey, reminisced upon their first in-person meeting with then-Deals-Team-lead Caroline Spertus. In December of 2021, after running the team entirely over Zoom for 4 months, the three finally met up for a coffee date at Verve Coffee Roasters in Manhattan Beach, California. They spent the morning “breaking down the Zoom walls” by sharing college stories and Farmlink memories. As proof of their already-close bond, Sophia gifted each of them with a friendship bracelet. “I was instantly drawn to their passion and work ethic,” Sophia said. “I couldn’t have been more grateful to finally meet in person and share some laughs while getting to know each other outside of work conversations.” Mia agrees. “This community is truly so special,” she said. “I couldn’t be more grateful to be a part of it each and every day.”
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