The inaugural Burlington County Harvest Dinner was a special farm-to-table meal that featured courses prepared by Rowan College at Burlington County culinary students with locally sourced ingredients.
County commissioners have voted to approve a new five-year agreement with the New Jersey Agricultural Society that allows its Farmers Against Hunger program to operate out of Rainbow Meadow Park in Delran.
Founded in 1996, Farmers Against Hunger collects surplus produce from farms and markets for distribution to area food banks, soup kitchens and pantries. During the last two years alone, it collected more than 500,000 pounds of food to feed thousands of people. The program also helps educate residents about state-grown fruits, vegetables, nutrition, cooking and land stewardship.
Farmers Against Hunger began using a portion of Rainbow Meadow Park as its headquarters in 2020. The 120-acre park property was formerly a peach farm and was purchased by the county in 2001. It was developed into a county park in 2015 with the help of New Jersey Green Acres funding.
Under the agreement with the county, Farmers Against Hunger can use the former farmer’s market, packing shed and refrigerated storage space for food collection and distribution. The deal also permits the nonprofit to use a three-acre parcel of the park to grow crops and teaching gardens and conduct community education and outreach.
The county is planning several improvements to the park, including new restrooms, an expanded parking area and new accessible trails. The upgrades also include extending public sewerage to the park, enabling a service connection to one of the buildings used by Farmers Against Hunger.
Earlier this year, the Burlington County Bridge Commission’s Department of Economic Development and Improvement Authority organized the inaugural Burlington County Harvest Dinner, a special farm-to-table meal that featured courses prepared by Rowan College at Burlington County culinary students with locally sourced ingredients.
All proceeds benefitted Farmers Against Hunger. For more information about the nonprofit, visit https://www.njagsociety.org/fah.html.
