Food Tank Joins the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance

Alliance members commit to food waste reduction and repurposing, decarbonization.

Food Tank, a globally recognized NGO dedicated to eradicating hunger, poverty, and obesity, has joined the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance (FPSA). The Farm Powered Strategic Alliance, founded in 2020 by Vanguard Renewables, Unilever, Starbucks, and Dairy Farmers of America, aims to avoid or eliminate food waste first and repurpose what can’t be eliminated into renewable energy via farm-based anaerobic digesters.

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Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank (Photo: Business Wire)

Food Tank is the first NGO and non-food producer to join the Alliance. Its mission to promote a more sustainable food system that provides access to healthy food is consistent with the FPSA goal to reduce and repurpose food waste.

“We follow the EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy, that food should feed the hungry first; our on-farm digesters recycle inedible food and beverage waste into renewable energy,” said Neil H. Smith, CEO of Vanguard Renewables. “A more sustainable food system nourishes people, the land, and the farmers, and it also sustains the supply chain. Food Tank and our other FPSA members are all working towards the same end - fighting food insecurity, keeping organic waste from landfills, and finding solutions to the ongoing climate crisis.”

Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank, said: “Our organization is dedicated to growing and spotlighting the important work of alleviating hunger, obesity, and poverty around the world. Becoming a member of the FPSA is a natural alignment for our organization; we work in the same space with complementary approaches to a more sustainable food system. It’s important to note that although we focus on advocating for nutritious food for all, we understand that the United States sends more than 30% of its food waste to landfills. Diverting the inedible food waste to create renewable energy is an important step in reaching all of our climate change goals.”

The Farm Powered Strategic Alliance, named one of Fast Company’s 2021 World-Changing Ideas, now includes Unilever, Starbucks, Dairy Farmers of America, Vanguard Renewables, Stonyfield Organic, Cabot Creamery, Smithfield Foods, Kikkoman, and now Food Tank. The Alliance offers U.S. food manufacturers and retailers a circular approach to reducing the detrimental environmental impacts of CO2 emissions and provides a pathway toward a carbon-neutral footprint; it also aims to expand renewable energy production across America while supporting family farms that host the anaerobic digesters. Members have the opportunity to recycle unavoidable food, and beverage waste on farms, where it is combined with farm manure in a Farm Powered anaerobic digester to generate renewable natural gas (RNG). The process also produces a low-carbon fertilizer that host farms can use to support regenerative agriculture practices and provide the American farmer with a diversified income stream.

Smith continued, “Food Tank is one of the nation’s leading NGOs working towards food equity around the globe. The FPSA is an alliance of diverse companies and organizations committed to creating a healthy and sustainable world for all, and we are thrilled to have them join our growing Farm Powered movement.”

To learn more about the Farm Powered Strategic Alliance, visit this link.

About Vanguard Renewables

Vanguard Renewables is a national leader in developing food and dairy waste-to-renewable energy projects. The Company is committed to advancing decarbonization by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from farms and food waste and supporting regenerative agriculture on partner farms. Vanguard co-founded the industry-leading Farm Powered Strategic Alliance (FPSA) alongside food industry leaders Dairy Farmers of America, Unilever, and Starbucks to develop a circular solution for food waste reduction and recycling and decarbonization of manufacturing and the supply chain. The Company owns and operates six on-farm anaerobic digester facilities in the northeast and plans to expand to more than 100 sites nationwide by 2025. Established relationships and renewable natural gas offtake agreements with national utilities including Dominion Energy, Enbridge, ONE Gas, National Grid, and Eversource, and its strategic alliance with Dairy Farmers of America, position the Company to significantly increase U.S. production and delivery of renewable natural gas to commercial and residential customers across the country. To learn more about Vanguard Renewables, FarmPowered™ organic waste solutions, the FPSA and its members, and Vanguard’s numerous awards and recognitions, visit the website.

About Food Tank:

Food Tank (FoodTank.com) is a global community for safe, healthy, nourished eaters. We aim to educate, inspire, advocate, and create change. We spotlight and support environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable ways of alleviating hunger, obesity, and poverty and create networks of people, organizations, and content to push for food system change.

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