UpRoot Colorado

The seeds for UpRoot were planted in the Fall of 2016 with two gleaning events set up on two unique farms in order to provide produce for Feeding the 5000 Front Range, a food-waste-awareness event held in downtown Denver in October 2016.

Colorado is a state with 11 million acres of cropland and there are existing examples of organizations both throughout the country and in Europe that implement sustainable, year-round gleaning operations.

From December 2016 - early 2020, we remained under fiscal sponsorship to prove concept and to learn if our Colorado food system was in need of our work and mission.

To date, our Volunteer Gleaning Corps has rescued more than 750,000 servings of nutrient-dense surplus produce, diverting this life-sustaining resource into Colorado hunger-relief agencies.

In 2020, we were awarded our Letter of Determination and we continue our work to reduce surplus protective foods, to champion and better support Colorado’s smallholder and family farms, to increase the nutritional security of Coloradans and to reinstall food wisdom throughout our communities.