Fighting Hunger At the Source: First Fruits Farm

Many people struggle with hunger, but there are organizations and individuals willing to help and donate.

First Fruits Farm is a non-profit that donates all of its produce to help those that deal with hunger.
Located in Freeland, Maryland, the farm is, as described by the director of development Erin Adams-Ports, the best-kept secret in the area.
The farm started off small but grew into a very impactful organization with a total of 2,000,000 pounds of food donated and over 13,000 volunteers from 2021.

Starting off in 1998, Rick and Carol Bernstein began with the idea of a volunteer-run farm.
“It slowly grew out of that little backyard project, and now the farm [is spread out about 14 miles across Baltimore county] on different parcels of land that were donated to them, or released for a few pennies on the dollar,” Adams-Ports said.

Since then, the farm has been very active with tons of services and programs.
Education, disaster relief and food distribution are some of the ways First Fruit Farm has helped the community.
They have education programs for all ages, which cover a wide range of subjects, like soil and water testing and sustainability.

“We’ve been able to launch this education initiative over the last couple of years because the farm really has so many natural resources, and using that platform of agriculture, we can support many of the things students are learning in the classroom whether that be STEM or nutrition,” said Adams-Ports said.

This program also has to help many families who live in food deserts. Food deserts are areas where there is little to no access to healthy, affordable food. There are not any grocery stores or fresh produce, and fast food or corner stores are the only sources of nutrition.
In those circumstances, First Fruits Farms can be likened to an oasis for those who don’t have access.

“For a lot of students that come to the farm, they’ve never been outside the city,” said Adams-Ports said. “They’ve never been in an atmosphere where they see all of this green wide open space. I remember earlier this fall we were working with a group of students and one of them came up to me afterward and said, ‘it’s so peaceful here. I’ve never heard quiet before like this.’”

The farm works with food banks, churches, other non-profits and more organizations.
toThat way they reach their main goal-, to feed hungry people.
This goal reaches throughout the whole country, and not just our local area.
Fruits First has partners in Delaware, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Washington DC, Virginia, West Virginia and North and South Carolina.
They have also given disaster relief to some of these states.

Back in 2017, Fruits First Farm, along with other farms across Maryland, partnered together with Convoy For Hope.
“After Hurricane Ida hit in Louisiana we joined with over 25 farmers throughout Maryland to send 4 tractor-trailers… down to the Louisanna communities that were affected by the hurricane,” said Adams-Ports said.

Just like the hurricane, when the pandemic hit, the farm was ready to support their neighbors.
They had an increase in volunteers and production which helped cover the demand, but the fight against hunger is difficult.

“The pandemic really exponentially increased the food insecurity crisis across the country…” Adams-Ports said. “The Maryland Food Bank saw an 89% increase in the number of people coming to them needing food. So people were really struggling and they will continue to struggle. Even though we hope that the pandemic is starting to come to an end, the implications in whats happened in the pandemic is gonna be felt for years to come.”

This is why it is so important to give back and support local farms.
Whether it is through volunteer work, promotion or buying some produce, it all helps the community, and that includes you.
Fruits First farm has a unique atmosphere, they bring love and generosity into the workplace because of the strong Christian foundation the non-profit holds.

“The mission of the farm is to feed hungry people and make sure they have access to fresh nutritious produce and we do this all in God’s name…,” said Adams-Ports said. “We always use the saying that everybody is welcome at the farm. People of all faiths or no faith at all come out.”

If you are interested in donating or volunteering, all the farm’s information can be found on their website, www.firstfruitsfarm.org.