Hidden Harvest
Hidden Harvest is a produce recovery program that employs low income farmworkers to “rescue” produce that is left behind in the fields and orchards after harvest.
Millions of pounds of produce are left for a variety of reasons — cosmetic blemishes, overproduction, dwindling market price. We also recover many hundreds of thousands of pounds of produce each year from area packing houses. This fresh and nutritious produce is delivered free of charge to over 60 local agencies that serve the poor and hungry.
In addition to produce delivery to agencies, Hidden Harvest operates a fresh produce food bank from our facility in Coachella. Over 6,000 people each month receive a healthy food box containing nonperishable foods and many varieties of locally grown produce. Our bank provides the equivalent of over 50,000 meals to needy families each month through our food box distribution.
Hidden Harvest programs are committed to helping low-income people feed themselves by providing employment opportunities, garden space, water, seeds and more. Additional services include nutrition instruction and cooking and food preservation classes held in our teaching kitchen.
Our latest programs include a six part nutrition curriculum conducted by trained Hidden Harvest staff in local school districts. Happy, Healthy Me is currently being presented as a pilot project in the Desert Sands Unified School District.
