Help Northeast farmers lessen food waste

I am Tricia Kopreski, founder of Midnite Mushrooms LLC. I grow and forage gourmet and wild mushrooms!

My passion for wild foods began very early in life being raised in an active farming community in Southern New Jersey I've picked every kind of fruit the Garden State grows! And, having roots in Western PA where many summertime forays took place the true magic began in the search for native blackberries and wild mushrooms! My path has included many different aspects of the food industry, from waitressing and catering to hauling truck loads of beautiful produce and now to full-time growing/ foraging and selling at NYC farm markets. I have always been proud to be a part of people's lives through good food. At the same time however, I've also had to witness first hand the amount of food that goes to waste. The food thrown out at the end of the night or an entire truck load that gets rejected because of one “bad apple” or the produce that doesn’t even make it off the farm. The common issue in the entire food industry is leftovers and how to handle them. That is where I want to make a change for the better.

Did you know that 40% of food produced in the U.S. goes to waste. Approx 133 Billion pounds equate to 20% of the landfill waste, that is worth $162 billion dollars and we wont even talk about the added pollution figures!!

Currently, I am asking for help in acquiring and rehabbing a commercial kitchen in Vineland, NJ that is large enough to help not only myself but many other farmers in the region lessen the waste at farm-level by processing foods that would otherwise go to waste. Creating value-added products at this level offers our customers farm fresh goodness that can last for many month beyond the growing season and of course adds value for the farmers hard work as well.

I will work closely with many other farmers and the proper regulatory authorities to ensure that our locally grown foods are made into quality products with less resources than commercially produced goods.

Keep your eyes peeled at your local farm markets for our products!

Thank you for your support, and shopping local grown!