Suitable containers to hold collected food are essential. Farmers who donated the pro-duce should not be expected to provide these containers because they represent a significant expense. Often projects can obtain donations of boxes and bags for the food, but this is an area that needs to be budgeted for carefully. Arrangements to obtain containers also need to be made early in the development of the gleaning project, because by the time the food is ready to be harvested, an adequate supply may not be available. Because freshly harvested produce is perishable and many other products are perishable, they must be transported to the delivery point as quickly and as safely as possible.
Refrigerated trucks are always preferable, but are often prohibitively expensive.
A new initiative jointly sponsored by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Transportation and key nonprofit groups will provide transportation-related assistance to food recovery and gleaning projects. It is much simpler and more efficient to establish a firm partnership with a local food bank, food rescue group, or distributing agency that already has a regular clientele or recipients. When a project works through such an arrangement, it can devote more of its time, energy, and other resources to acquiring the food itself, because the distributing organization already has a system in place to evaluate and allocate the recovered foods to those facilities that can use it best. This process works especially well in urban areas, by keeping the food recovery project managers from running the risk of competing with the larger organizations or of unnecessarily duplicating their efforts. In some small communities, and particularly in rural areas, some food recovery and gleaning projects work best by delivering their produce directly to a shelter or soup kitchen.