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Agricultural Services
About Us
Food connects us all, yet our current food system faces a profound paradox: while one-in-three Colorado residents lack reliable access to nutritious foods, over 500 million pounds of surplus produce goes unharvested on Colorado farms annually due to labor shortages and strict retail cosmetic standards. When left to rot in landfills, this waste produces methane gas (a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than CO2) driving environmental degradation.
Established in 2017, UpRoot Colorado directly targets this crisis. Our Gleaning Initiative mobilizes a dedicated Volunteer Gleaning Corps to harvest surplus fruits and vegetables from local farms and backyard fruit trees across 15 Colorado counties. We partner closely with smallholder farms, fruit-tree stewards, and hunger-relief organizations to safely and efficiently redistribute this nutrient-dense food to food pantries, meal sites, and early childhood education centers.
By rescuing food and reacquainting people with the value of the land, we build a more resilient, equitable food system.
