April 2023
Boston Area Gleaners' Executive Director, Usha Thakrar, was interviewed by Harvard Magazine and discussed the Gleaners efforts to combat food insecurity in Massachusetts.
Click here to read the article. 
March 2022
Kristen Hartke at LiveKindly interviewed a collection of gleaning organizations across the country about supporting local food security and preventing waste. Among them, she highlighted the Gleaners' efforts not only to harvest surplus but also proactively grow the crops at Stonefield Farm according to the needs of our community partners. Click here to read the article. 
July 2021
The Farmlink Project wrote this profile on Boston Area Gleaners' Directors Dylan Frazier and Charlotte Border, regarding their daily role in getting food where it needs to go and their years of dedicated leadership at the Gleaners. Click here to read the article. 
July 2021
Mihiro Shimano of Boston.com covered Boston Area Gleaners' move to Acton—and how the transition to a new facility & farm will be a 'game-changer' not only for the Gleaners but also for key partners in the food system. Click here to read the article. 
February 2021
This article in the Boston Herald notes the unprecedented increase in food insecurity in Eastern Massachusetts since the start off the pandemic, and notes the Gleaners' joint program with Food for Free to pack thousands of grocery boxes each week for families in need during the winter months. Click here to read the article. 
November 2020
This Boston Globe piece, featuring input from our Director of Strategy and many BAG partners, highlights the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food insecurity rates in MA and discusses the challenges relief agencies are facing at this critical moment. Click here to read the article. 
July 2020
Rachel Wharton of the New York Times mentioned Boston Area Gleaners in a feature about the critical role of gleaning during the COVID-19 pandemic. She writes, "Gleaning groups are at the front lines of those helping to stabilize the nation’s shaky food supply, perfectly positioned to leverage one problem — a bounty of unsellable crops — to help solve another: rampant hunger." Click here to read the article. 
May 2020
The Boston Globe covered Boston Area Gleaners' pandemic response efforts as a recipient of a Northeast Regional contract with the USDA. The article details our role in the Farmers to Families Food Box initiative, distributing thousands of pre-packed boxes of food per week to our partner agencies. Click here to read the article. 
Fall 2019
Boston Area Gleaners' work was featured on the cover of Edible Boston. The article includes interviews with volunteers, farmers and our hunger relief partners. Read the article here. 
February 2017
Boston Area Gleaners' work was featured in a special "Optimism" issue of John Deere's magazine, The Furrow. The article highlights BAG's relationships with farms, and how gleaning is beneficial to all parties involved in the process. Read the article here. 
November 2016
A trip to Barrett's Mill Farm in Concord, MA was one of the gleans that contributed pounds of food to our "10 Tons in 10 Days" rally in November 2016. This article highlights some of our volunteer gleaners, explaining why they have gotten involved with BAG. One volunteers says, "So much food goes to waste, and I’m happy to know that it goes to people who need it, especially on Thanksgiving." Read more here. 
November 2016
The week before Thanksgiving, Boston Area Gleaners partners with Food For Free to distribute more than 10 tons of freshly gleaned produce to the holiday dinner tables of people in need. Metro Boston visited our field station on Day 7 of this "10 Tons in 10 Days" initiative, observing one of Food For Free's produce pick-ups. Read about the collaboration here. 
October 2016
Marianne Delorey, Executive Director of Colony Retirement Homes in Worcester, wrote a spotlight piece on Boston Area Gleaners on FiftyPlusAdvocate.com. She writes, "Since they have been receiving produce from BAG, however, the cooks have become more creative and more excited about cooking... These low-income elders rely on Colony’s meals program to stay healthy and independent in the community and they love the fresh veggies. They report that the flavors are fuller, the colors are more vibrant, and perhaps, it reminds them of their childhood to receive the bounty of the harvest." Read more here. 
August 2016
This article in Industrial Systems and Engineering Magazine shows that strong supply chain management is key to getting high quality food to people in need. Boston Area Gleaners is one main food recovery organization that the paper analyzes; the authors note that BAG's volunteer-driven gleaning program is a prime method of moving surplus food along the supply chain. Find the article here. 
August 2016
This entry in The Huffington Post summarizes gleaning as a way to simultaneously mitigate food waste and food insecurity. The authors mention their research about gleaning efforts across the nation, such as Boston Area Gleaners (see article below). Read the post here. 
March 2016
In this academic article in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Erkut Sonmez, Visiting Assistant Professor at Boston University, and Deishin Lee, Assistant Professor of Operations Management at Boston College and former BAG board member analyze gleaning as a tool to reduce hunger and food waste. They propose a model for optimizing gleaning operations. Boston Area Gleaners staff Duck Caldwell and Matt Crawford provided the authors key insight on gleaning operations--information that significantly informed their research. Access the article here. 
June 2016
Writer John Muldoon experienced gleaning first-hand at Essex's Alprilla Farm, and wrote about his time in a piece in North Shore Local News. Read about it here. 
June 2016
This Christian Science Monitor article highlights BAG Executive Director Laurie "Duck" Caldwell's path to her current position. Duck was first a volunteer, then a short-term part-time employee, and finally the director of Boston Area Gleaners. The organization's volume intake, volunteer base, and budget have grown exponentially under Duck's leadership since 2010. According to partner farmer Carl Hills of Kimball Fruit Farm, “BAG is the Cadillac of food distribution to food pantries," thanks to Duck's ability to build the systems that enable gleaning on a large scale. Read more about Duck's experience here. 
November 2015
The Boston Globe highlights BAG's work during the busy weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. Duck is quoted: “The spirit of the holiday is supposed to be about gratitude and giving thanks, so I think that there’s a heightened awareness during this holiday in particular that is ‘if I have some food I should make sure that other people in my community have food too.’” This article also features Waltham Fields Community Farm—the site of our field station and one of our partner farms! Click here to read the piece. 
November 2015
In 2015, BAG began a pilot program to deliver more produce to the Greater Boston Food Bank's Value Added Produce program. The Food Bank picks up many tons of gleaned fruits and vegetables from BAG every week, and delivers the fresh food to hundreds of recipient agencies. We are so grateful be partnered with such a successful hunger relief organization with a widespread impact. Click here to read the article (page 4)! 
July 2015
Natural Awakenings (Boston Edition) published two articles featuring Boston Area Gleaners. The first, titled "Food Gleaning," highlights Duck's expertise on the need for gleaning on the production and consumption end of the food chain. The second, "Boston Area Gleaners Leave No Crop Behind," sums up our gleaning program, and describes our hopes for growth. Click here to read "Food Gleaning." Click here to read "Boston Area Gleaners Leave No Crop Behind." 
April 17,2015
The Beginning Farmer Network (BFN) of Massachusetts profiled BAG Lead Gleaning Coordinator, Matt Crawford, in a piece about the gleaning services offered to farmers by BAG. The short piece details how working with BAG can be beneficial for their many partner farmers, and it includes an anecdote about why a farmer chose to donate over 4000 pounds of surplus tomatoes to BAG during the 2014 gleaning season. Click here to read the article! 
March 30, 2015
The Arlington Advocate featured a story about how Boston Area Gleaners donated their cargo van (the Glean Machine I) to a non-profit food rescue group in Arlington called Food Link. The van was originally donated to BAG in 2010, and with this donation it continues to deliver food to those in our community who need it most! Click here to read the article! 
January 4, 2015
Yet again, the Boston Globe featured Boston Area Gleaners, this time in its Viewfinder section. This segment features pictures of our dedicated volunteers gleaning kale at Weir River Farm in Hingham, as well as short narratives about some volunteers. Click here to access the article. 
July 10, 2014
Boston Area Gleaners was featured in an article in the regional sections of the Boston Globe (North, South, and West). Click below to read the stories of why farmers and volunteers enjoy their relationship with the Gleaners, and to see some great pictures of us at work in the fields! Click here to read the article (and follow the related article links for more pictures and info about our work and partners) 
March 28, 2014
Boston Area Gleaners get a worthy mention in this article about the general state of agriculture in Massachusetts, following our participation at Ag Day 2014 at the State House. Click here to read the article! 
February 5, 2014
Boston Area Gleaners is just one of the Boston area food recovery organizations featured in this February 5, 2014 Globe article entitled "Recovering Wholesome Food and Getting it to Those in Need." 
November 26, 2013
Our Executive Director, Duck Caldwell, was named a "Hunger Hero" by the City of Boston's Office of Food Initiatives in 2013. We are so proud and motivated by the good work that Duck does in leading BAG and working hard to make sure that hungry people get the fresh food they need. Thank you, Duck, for all that you do! The article webpage is no longer available; if we find it, we will post it here! 
July 15, 2013
Our current Gleaning Coordinator, Matt Crawford, was featured in the First Person section of the July 15, 2013 Boston Globe Magazine. In the short article, enitled "Prized leftovers: Believing no fresh food should go to waste, Matt Crawford is the new guy to round up volunteers for Boston Area Gleaners", Matt details his journey to his current job at Boston Area Gleaners and explains why gleaning plays such an important role in increasing access to healthy, local food. Click here to read the article! 
July 8, 2013
An article published on the website ecoMass News entitled "Mass. Movements to Keep Food From Being Wasted" describes the efforts of different Boston area individuals and organizations that are dedicated to recovering food before it is wasted. The article details a bit of the history of our organization and a few key relationships between Boston Area Gleaners and farmers. Great reading for anyone who is interested in learning more about food recovery and the connection between our work and others' work in the anti-waste and anti-hunger movements! The article webpage is no longer available; if we find it, we will post it here! 
November 15, 2012
Another great feature by Noelle Swan on how gleaning works. Published on Nov. 15th, 2012, the title of the article is "To Decrease Food Waste & Fight Hunger, Boston Area Org Gleans Unharvested Food from Local Farms." Thank you again for your support, Noelle! Let's harvest against hunger! Click here to find out more! 
October 23, 2012
Great feature on Boston's Metro News on Food Day 2012 at Mattapan, MA. The article titled "Boston: Take a break from beans, it's time to eat your Greens." was published on Oct. 23rd, 2012 by Morgan Rousseau. Boston Area Gleaners is very proud being able to join ABCD Head Start on the event. Let's encourage Boston to Eat Our Greens! Read the feature or find out more about Food Day. 
October 19, 2012
Boston Area Gleaners featured in Spare Change News on Oct. 19th, 2012. The title "Where Waste Meets Want" by Noelle Swan accurately states what we do as gleaners! It also contains nice overview of our history and works! Click here to find out more! 
September 26, 2012
Boston Area Gleaners featured in Food & Dining section of The Boston Globe on Sept. 26th, 2012 with title "Gleaners Reap Food for the Needy, Spirit for Themselves". This great feature is written by Sarah Shemkus, Globe correspondent. Click here to see the online version of the feature!
October 24, 2011
Boston Area Gleaners joined Governor Deval Patrick at The Food Project farm in Lincoln, MA on Oct. 24th, 2011, which is then proclaimed as Massachusetts Food Day! Read more about the Governor's gleaning trip in an article written by Wicked Local and in a blog entry on The Food Project's website. Click here to view a video of the Governor gleaning carrots with the volunteers and staff of BAG and the farmers at The Food Project. |
