Feeding America honors New Jersey partners expanding local produce access

Feeding America has turned a New Jersey produce partnership into a logistics model worth studying, naming the Mid-Atlantic Regional Cooperative and NORWESCAP among six network members honored in its 2026 Network Celebration Awards. The groups were recognized in the Enhanced Food Sourcing and Sharing category for a collaboration that keeps more fresh, locally grown produce moving instead of letting harvest volume outrun the charitable system’s capacity.

The April 29 announcement came after the awards were presented at Feeding America’s annual conference on April 15. The recognition matters because it spotlights a problem food recovery groups know well: fresh produce does not wait for a slow distribution chain. In this case, America’s Grow-a-Row was harvesting more than New Jersey’s charitable food network could absorb on its own, so Norwescap helped build a statewide coalition and MARC supplied the logistics muscle to receive, repack, warehouse and move bulk produce through the network.

That structure is what makes the model work. America’s Grow-a-Row says it operates four farms in Hunterdon County, grows more than 20 varieties of produce across 423 acres and reaches partners in 29 states. MARC, which describes itself as a regional cooperative of Feeding America, says it can work with food banks across its distribution network. Together with Norwescap, the partnership created a pathway for local produce to stay closer to the communities where it was grown, rather than becoming a one-time windfall that pantries could not process fast enough.

For A Simple Gesture and other food recovery groups, the lesson is not just that more food exists to be rescued. It is that perishable food only scales when the logistics are built as carefully as the sourcing. Produce recovery needs a plan for intake, repacking, storage and downstream placement, plus enough partner capacity to move food before it spoils. That is especially important in New Jersey, where Norwescap says food pantries have reported a 280% increase in demand.

The scale Feeding America cited puts that pressure in context. The network says it rescued 4.1 billion pounds of food in fiscal year 2024 and distributed 5.9 billion meals last year through more than 250 food banks, over 20 statewide food bank associations and more than 60,000 agency partners. The New Jersey partnership fits that larger machine, but its value is local: a crop-heavy region, a crowded pantry system and a coordinated answer that keeps fresh food in circulation.