Planting
for the Pantry
Food grown intentionally for hunger relief
Everybody eats! And we believe everyone deserves access to good, healthy, nutrient-dense foods. Planting for the Pantry farms urban spaces throughout Columbia specifically for local food pantries and partners who fill the gaps in access to fresh foods. Each farmed space is in turn open to thousands of volunteers and visitors each season. The community joins us to develop greater knowledge and skills in growing food while caring for the land, and all while planting for the pantry.
What are we growing at each farm? Each season, donors generously “Sponsor a Row” so that we are able to plant the food of highest impact for local pantry users.
We ask those who use our produce what fruits, vegetables, and herbs they want to use more but have trouble accessing. Some produce we plant doesn’t typically show up as donations from other sources, sometimes it’s very specific to a culture’s cuisine. We spend the growing season with the help of volunteers harvesting the fresh foods local families want to eat, often foods that travel from farm to pantry to plate all in the same day.
“Thank you for all your hard work. It is nice to live in a community that provides for individuals who without your help might not be afforded the opportunity to eat a nutritional diet.”
Main gardens farmed for donation
Columbia’s Agriculture Park is just three miles from Central Pantry, and farms an acre of space for Central Pantry and the The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri. Here you’ll find pantry favorites — like collards, pickling cucumbers, okra, garlic, tomatoes and sweet potatoes — planted along with veggies such as kohlrabi or swiss chard that invite families to be adventurous and discover a new family favorite.
Veterans planting for Veterans. The produce planted at the Veterans Urban Farm is donated directly to local Veterans and the VA Hospital. Veterans working at the farm gain opportunities for vocational training, recreational therapy, substance abuse rehabilitation, and mental health support while tending row gardens of fruits and vegetables, berry brambles, and the fruit tree orchard.
Kilgore’s Community Garden
The Kilgore’s Community Garden sets out to make healthy, happy fruit and veggie lovers out of the preschoolers at Nora Stewart Early Learning Center. This special garden is a longstanding partnership with Kilgore’s Pharmacy, an idea sparked after a Kilgore’s pharmacist filled a prescription for a young child’s cholesterol medication. Fresh produce from this garden is donated weekly throughout the season where it’s used to make meals for the children at Nora Stewart. Expanded harvests are also donated to the Flourish Home, which serves teens at risk of homelessness.
