Supplying Produce to Food Banks and Distribution Sites

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

When the pandemic hit, the USDA launched the Farmers to Families Food Box Program to distribute food to disadvantaged Americans through food banks. Sunterra Produce Traders was one of the suppliers to answer the call. They’ve been growing, packing, and shipping produce for years, but this was the first time they’d focused on food banks as a potential customer. Founder and President Steve Brazeel says the experience was both rewarding and humbling.

Brazeel… “You know, working with the food bank is one thing where you back into their dock, just like any other customer, but working with some of these distribution sites and having to pull your truck over on a wide spot in the road and have your drivers, you know, help distribute this food to people in need is pretty humbling. And it's something that we never had experience with, obviously, but it was really neat to see that, you know, everybody working together could create those outcomes.”

Brazeel says they actually look at food banks now as viable long term customers as a result of this experience.

Brazeel… “And what we discovered during this pandemic during this time is that there's a lot of products that maybe have a blemish, or maybe aren't the size that a retailer wants that is perfectly good for a food bank or anybody else. And that we can, you know, we can get these things into people's hands. And that part of it's probably been some of the most rewarding part.”

This is one more example of how various members of the agricultural community stepped up to fill a need. Learn more about Sunterra Produce Traders at www.SunterraProduce.com.