UpRoot Colorado harvests and redistributes surplus fruits and vegetables from farms and fruit trees across Colorado, increasing access to nutritious food for all Coloradans, reducing agricultural surplus, and fostering connections between community members and our local food system.
We partner with food producers and recruit volunteers to harvest crops that might otherwise not be harvested or eaten. After the harvest, we work with programs that distribute this food at no cost to members of our community who do not have adequate access to nutritious foods.
UpRoot is the only organization working on agricultural surplus recovery at a statewide level in Colorado, and our efforts increase connectedness between stakeholders in the food system who may not have the capacity to connect with one another if UpRoot did not exist.
Your donation to UpRoot Colorado will help UpRoot to increase our capacity and grow our positive impact in the Colorado food system in 2024!
UpRoot increases the nutrition security of Coloradans by harvesting and redistributing surplus, nutrient-dense food while supporting the resilience of farmers.
We envision a less wasteful Colorado food system in which all have access to the nutritious food they need to live healthy lives, and where farmers are valued as cornerstones of our society.
UpRoot was created after “Feeding the 5000 Front Range,” a food-waste-awareness event held in Denver over World Food Day weekend in October 2016. That weekend, gleaning events (i.e., events during which surplus produce is harvested for redistribution) on two Colorado farms provided about 1,500 pounds of fresh produce for the event, recovered in about five hours.
Impressed by the amount of food left unharvested on Colorado farms in mid-October, UpRoot’s co-founders began a research phase that did not reveal any statewide, concerted efforts to recover surplus food and redistribute it to Coloradans facing nutrition insecurity.
Since that time, UpRoot has steadfastly begun to fill this gap in Colorado’s food system. Since 2017, UpRoot's staff and volunteer gleaning corps have harvested a half-million pounds—approximately five million servings—of locally grown, nutrient-dense surplus food and redistributed this life-sustaining resource into the hands of Colorado residents facing barriers to healthy food access.
Organization name
UpRoot Colorado
other names
UpRoot
2017
Tax id (EIN)
82-1407915
Category
Food, Agriculture & Nutrition, Environment, Community Improvement & Capacity Building, Civil Rights, Social Action & Advocacy
Organization Size
Small Organization
Address
PO Box 1952Boulder County, CO, US
Delta County, CO, US
Denver, CO, US
Mesa County, CO, US
Garfield County, CO, US