Idaho Food Bank

Welcome to Open Range, I’m KayDee Gilkey. Stay tuned because after the break I’ll check in with our field reporter, Greg Martin for the AgriBeef Minute.

I’m Greg Martin with today’s AgriBeef Minute. Julie Pipal is the Food Resourcing Manager for the Idaho Food Bank and is working with local farmers to help feed those in need.

PIPAL: You know the Idaho Food Bank is kind of a little sister in a way to what the Oregon Food Bank and SecondHarvest out of Spokane are doing. We are just now starting to bring fresh produce in to our warehouse and the agriculture community plays a significant role because we need truckloads of food.

She says the days of the food drives are just not keeping them supplied.

PIPAL: The agriculture community by donating truckloads of fresh potatoes, onions, split peas, split pintos they are helping us to meet that need in a new way.

Some farmers have already been donating items but Pipal says they are actively seeking more help.

PIPAL: We’re having to reach out to them because I think that unless someone has been familiar with the food bank, they’ve had to actually go to one or they volunteered in one they don’t understand what a food bank actually is. We distribute approximately one-million pounds of food every month to Idaho’s 39 southern most counties but in order to meet that million pound a month goal we have to be able to source truckloads

You can contact them through their website idahofoodbank.org. I’m Greg Martin and that’s today’s AgriBeef Minute.

Thanks Greg. Don’t forget Greg will be back each Wednesday with the AgriBeef Minute. Agri Beef Co - Real Families, Great People, Exceptional Beef. I’m KayDee Gilkey.