Coloma Farmer Donates 2020 Blueberry Crop to Feeding America

Farmers across our country have been hit hard this year. From tariffs limiting their client base to coronavirus taking another huge chunk out of their business, the iconic American farmer continues to struggle. So hearing about a farmer donating what he can't sell to Feeding America in the middle of this crisis, left me agog. Finding out he's in Coloma, Michigan took my breath away. And this isn't the first time he's done it.

Gary Blough has been growing blueberries on his Coloma Township farm for 15 years. 2020 has been a great year for blueberries, but not so great for Blough and other farmers raising them. Michigan saw a bumper crop of blueberries which drove the bulk price of them super low, in fact, too low. Blough even found he couldn't sell his yield at local farmers markets because they instituted a cap. Blough thought if he can't sell them he might as well give them to hungry people in our area and that's exactly what he did. He paid his pickers, collected the bushels and brought them to Feeding America, a national organization that provides food to people in need through a nationwide network of food banks to be distributed. He made several trips with 300 pounds of blueberries each trip. No stranger to donating to the organization, he made a similar donation of organic potatoes a few years back, and says he will donate next year if prices remain too low to sell.

What a positive attitude he must have, to not let this deflate him, but rather bolster him to see incredible things done with the fruits of his labor (no pun intended) like feeding our neighbors.