Farm to Food Bank Program

Food insecurity and access to basic needs

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Sasha Kanno runs the operation, her history in this community started in 2007 after purchasing a home in the 90806 zip code where we now serve our Farm to Food Bank Program. Sasha began to a grassroots co-op produce exchange in 2007 to share and connect backyard growers with their homegrown produce. Next, she took on a larger community organizing role and founded Wrigley Garden, a two-year CommunityGarden project that bridged the gap between the neighborhoods and taught the residents how to grow their own fruits, and vegetables and keep chickens. Since starting the only independent urban farm in Long Beach in 2010, Sasha has worked to change policy for backyard growers, fought for healthy food in food deserts, and donated thousands of pounds of produce, plants, seeds, and knowledge to the community. She currently serves on the USDA Farm Service Agency committee representing LA County.

Within the City of Long Beach, there are areas officially designated as food deserts - where residents have little to no access to affordable, fresh food. Our Farm to Food Bank Program has proven to be a vital resource to these under-served communities. Each week we harvest organic greens, herbs, fruits, and vegetables to be distributed to the community. By providing this freshly grown food, our Program is reducing local food banks’ reliance on canned goods and shelf stable items. Our Program's weekly distribution provides struggling families with the quality nutrition and nourishment of fresh organic produce that they otherwise would not have access to. Beneficiaries are primarily fixed-income elderly, multi-generational families, and veterans.

With the help of volunteers and paid staff each week we harvest seasonal produce including organically grown salad mixes, bok choi, squashes, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, kale, eggplant, okra, oranges, guava, pomegranates, rosemary, basil, thyme, lemongrass, mint and other crops to be distributed to our community through our distribution partners. We would like to increase our production to serve another food hub that will be opening in 2024. Many of the residents we have worked with directly within our Community Food Hub were ecstatic when we were able to supply them with culturally significant seeds, plants, and flowers. These items are often seen as a luxury. By providing others with basic supplies and teaching them how to grow their own food they are helping to eliminate food insecurity and creating their own local food system. Our .06 acre farm will not be able to feed the 500,000 people that live in Long Beach but we can educate and empower others.

Our intended outcome is to increase our edible crop production by 20% over our 2023 goals, as measured in pounds. With funding, we can increase our labor to be able to produce more salad, kale, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, beans, oranges, guavas, figs, and other organically grown items. We track this metric by weighing our produce which is indicative of increased production of healthy, organic produce to be provided to the surrounding food-insecure communities.