Gleaning

Let’s stop all this waste!

by Janice Ross

Suitable for Whole School (Sec)

Aims

To consider the Biblical custom of gleaning and how farm waste is being reduced today.

Preparation and materials

• You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Gleaning) and the means to display them.

Assembly

1. Explain that today, we are going to be thinking about how produce is harvested on UK farms.
   
   Show Slide 1.
   
   An environmental charity found that UK farmers waste between 10 and 16 per cent of their crops annually.
   
   According to WRAP, the Waste and Resources Action Programme, over 170,000 tonnes of food is wasted in the fresh produce supply chain every year.
   
   
2. Ask the following questions.
   
   - How do you react to these statistics?
   - Why is this news disturbing?
   
   Pause to allow time for discussion, and then listen to a range of responses.
   
   
3. Explain that the figures on the slide indicate that farm waste is a serious problem.
   
   Tell the students that there are many reasons for this waste.
   
   Show Slide 2.
   
   Explain that fruits and vegetables are often rejected by supermarket buyers and others because they are not the ‘right’ size, shape or colour.
   
   This can lead trained pickers to pick only the best produce and leave the rest to rot in the field.
   
   
4. Ask the students, ‘How important is the shape, size or colour of a carrot to you? What about other fruits and vegetables?’
   
   Explain that further waste occurs in supermarkets because many customers not only want the finest, freshest produce, but also seek the produce with the latest best before date.
   
   
5. Show Slide 3.
   
   Tell the students that in recent years, people have begun to protest about this unnecessary food waste. This has prompted some of the supermarkets to sell wonky vegetables at a lower price.
   
   
6. Show Slide 4.
   
   Explain that, in recent years, there have been various news stories about a downturn in the number of people prepared to work as fruit and vegetable pickers.
   
   Ask the students why they think this might be.
   
   Listen to a range of responses.
   
   Suggestions could include the long hours; the hard, physical nature of the work; the high temperatures in polytunnels and so on.
   
   Tell the students that much of this work used to be done in the UK by people from eastern European countries, but Brexit has caused numbers to fall dramatically.
   
   
7. Show Slide 5.
   
   Explain that unpredictable weather has a significant effect on fruit and veg in particular. If there is too much rain, fresh fruit like raspberries and strawberries go mouldy. If there is too little rain, the berries become dry and don’t plump up.
   
   Alternatively, there can be a glut, when a crop does particularly well and there is simply too much ripe fruit at one time for the number of orders coming in.
   
   
8. Ask the students, ‘What can be done about all this waste?’
   
   Tell the students that gleaning is an activity where volunteers connect with local farmers to harvest surplus fruits or vegetables that would otherwise not be sold or eaten due to overproduction, changes in supermarket orders, cosmetic standards and so on.
   
   
9. Show Slide 6.
   
   Explain that the Gleaning Network is a network of groups, organizations, farmers, charities and volunteers that works to reduce farm-level food waste. People get to enjoy being outside in the fresh air, harvesting fresh fruit and veg, and this food can then be shared with others in the community.
   
   You may like to suggest that the students find out if there is a gleaning network near where they live.

Time for reflection

Show Slide 7.

Gleaning is not a new idea; in fact, it dates back thousands of years. In Biblical times, gleaning involved gathering grain or other harvested material that reapers left behind intentionally.

Landowners were commanded to leave some of the harvest for the poor, so the reapers would not go right to the edges of the fields, but leave these strips for those in need to collect. If vines were being harvested, only one picking of grapes was allowed. Later, those in need could visit the vineyards and pick any of the ripe fruit. In this way, food was provided for the poor, orphans, widows and foreigners.

Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the amazing variety of food that we enjoy.
Please help us to remember that food is precious and to eat with gratitude.
Thank you for the example of gleaning in the Bible.
Please help us always to remember those who don’t have enough to eat.
Please enable us to find ways in which we can help.
Please help us to lessen waste.
Amen.