DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) -Modern farmers today produce enough food to feed the entire planet. However, the true challenge lies in ensuring it reaches those in need. Despite nearly doubling crop and meat production over the past 20 years, hunger continues to rise, as recently reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization. The issue isn’t a lack of food, but creating equitable access to it.
Addressing global food insecurity is a priority for the John Deere Foundation, which is committed to supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including achieving “zero hunger” by 2030. The World Food Programme highlights that one-third of all food produced—about 1.3 billion tons valued at $1 trillion USD annually—goes to waste. This waste contributes to rising carbon emissions as it decomposes.
Food bank networks offer solutions by reducing food waste and diverting it from landfills, thereby lowering greenhouse gas emissions. The John Deere Foundation backs the Global Food Banking Network (GFN) in its mission to enhance food distribution by connecting food banks worldwide. In 2021, GFN member food banks provided meals to 39 million people across 44 countries.
Support for Global Food Banking Network aligns with John Deere’s values because it ensures that everything farmers and ranchers produce for human consumption is utilized.
Riverbend Food Bank is a local food distribution channel that benefits from John Deere’s investment and support to create fairer food distribution in our community. The pantry serves five counties in Iowa, 18 counties in Illinois, and in that service area there’s about 125,000 people that are food insecure. And the agency distributes 20 million pounds of food each year.
River Bend Food Bank’s mission could not be served without the help of the community with John Deere leading the way. For instance, the pantry could not exist without volunteers. Hundreds of John Deere employees volunteer each and every year to River Bend Food Bank. In fact, the employees actually broke a record this year of recording over 300,000 volunteer hours to give back to our community.
Support for Global Food Banking Network aligns with John Deere’s values because it ensures that everything farmers and ranchers produce for human consumption is utilized.
For the past 187 years, John Deere has been committed to helping end hunger and we have been here in the Quad Cities and we look forward to continuing that journey and working with River Bend Food Bank and our nonprofits.
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