By Quinn Rodgers

Fort Collins, Colo. — The support of countless sustainable and equitable organizations, it may become difficult to see their impact. One of the greatest bastions of sustainable practice on a local level is the Food Bank for Larimer County, producing equitable food distribution that visibly nearly feeds the entire population of people that are food-insecure in Larimer County.

Food banks are a valuable aspect of the food supply chain, as rather than using an extensive path filled with differing extraction and processing methods, they receive products from donations. This method combats countless dangerous distribution factors, such as carbon emissions from countless production levels, and external costs such as lowering workers’ wages. Food banks are additionally crucial in increasing equitable conditions in local communities by fighting food insecurity, along with decreasing food loss and waste.

Food Bank for Larimer County is the main local food bank for Larimer County and Fort Collins. The food bank receives products from a plethora of sources including food drives, corporations, distribution companies, and individual donors. If one in the Fort Collins area is looking for a sustainable way to store food rather than throwing it out, Food Bank for Larimer County promises to keep items ranging from meat to dairy.

Avenues such as food share programs, offer cost-free grocery stores for the local community, create an equitable form of distribution, allocating food to more individuals rather than putting products on sale or sending them to the dump.

In Larimer County, 10.9% of residents are living in poverty, with 38,040 members of the community living with food insecurity. Donating to the bank makes a large impact in allowing the distribution of food which goes to serve 37,500 people, proving to be an equitable and effective method of food distribution.

Feeding America, the parent company of the Food Bank for Larimer County takes a sustainable stance regarding the food supply chain. Their programs mitigate miscommunication and waste in the food supply chain by offering locations near food transportation routes that incentivize drivers to deliver their goods for distribution instead of sending them to the landfill and releasing carbon emissions for wasted foods.

Anne Leonard, in the story of Stuff, mentions the lack of corporate accountability within the food supply chain. Just as companies externalize costs onto workers, citizens, and the environment, waste is a cheaper method of food disposal in the food supply chain, along with the most accessible choice for drivers that are denied grocery stores.

Since the Food Bank for Larimer County acquires food from drivers and companies, food may be distributed into the local community while also combatting the toxic supply chain. As a member of the Fort Collins community, using your resources aids neighbors that require costless groceries, along with contributing to a greener food supply chain.