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Norfolk Farms

Niagara Christian Gleaners: “an economical way to transform growers’ produce”


Volunteers sorting fruits on a large table
NCG’s volunteer corps relies upon people of all ages.

Headshot
NCG general manager Pete Wierenga.

In 2018, the Niagara Christian Gleaners (NCG) opened a dehydration plant in West Lincoln in order to feed food-insecure populations both internationally and domestically. Not surprisingly to them, area farmers’ generosity to provide vegetables and fruits to this Smithville-area plant is so positive that the plant expanded.


This non-profit group takes surplus produce from the Niagara-Haldimand-Norfolk area, and dehydrates it into bags of quality product that keeps well in both hot and cold climates.


“Canada is a net producer of food --we likely can’t eat everything we produce,” said general manager, Pete Wierenga. “For instance, Kenya had a four-year drought, and then had the worst flood in years. Their famers who can grow food --can’t -- and they’re hungry themselves. That is the difference between us and others.”

In 2023, the Gleaners processed a record 1,466,253 kg (3,232,534 pounds) of fresh vegetables and fruit, more than double its total combined production in 2019 and 2020. 

“Our current production rate fills approximately one sea container per month, or 1.2 million servings of food,” said Wierenga. “This translates into 13.1 million servings of food aid which landed in nine different countries.”


Farmers truck in trailer loads of surplus and graded-out produce. From there, approximately 80 volunteers re-wash, peel, chop, and cut off blemishes and skins. They then enter these pieces into a dicer, which reduces them into three-eight inched cubes. They layer the cubes on trays for dehydration, measuring 21 trays per rack, totaling 700 trays per dryer.

Dehydration begins in the afternoon, with a change-out crew coming in at night to complete the process. 


The end product is attractive and nutritious. For example, Wierenga said that one package of pears, parsnips and carrots yield a four-cup, family-sized quantity, with 27 servings per bag.

Each NCG box provides approximately 500 servings. 


“It’s an economical way to transform the growers’ produce,” Wierenga explained.


Several aid groups vetted by the NCG later remove and ship the completed sea containers.

“They (distributors) connect with us and seek out our food. They’re the boots on the ground and know where the need is. They know how to get it there and not have it intercepted for sale. We keep the list short so that we are sure of that it gets there.”


The distributors usually ship out full containers; however, one organization, St Catharine’s Warehouse of Hope, recently took a partial container in order to blend in school and hospital aid for the Ukraine, said Wierenga. 


Their motivation is the biblical mandate of gleaning, in which God instructs farmers to leave a portion of their crops in the fields for the poor to gather or “glean” (notably in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Exodus and Ruth). 


“We’re unashamedly a Christian organization-- we do it in Christ’s name,” said Wierenga.

People from all age groups, including youth, share this vision: the NCG utilitized more than 60,000 volunteer hours in 2023 in order to transform the produce into dehydrated nourishment. The Gleaners also welcome visitors and school groups to view their work and learn about food insecurity and social justice. 


NCG is loosely affiliated with the original Ontario Christian Gleaners near Cambridge. However, both groups have separate plants, websites, volunteers and boards of directors. When the Cambridge site ramped up its production with more tractor trailer loads of produce, Wierenga said that several Niagara residents believed that they could replicate this need locally.


“It was a small group of visionary people in 2015 who thought they could set up their own plant. They knew that there would be a number of volunteers who would come to serve in Niagara. Ontario Christian Gleaners were at capacity – they saw that there would be enough food available for more dehydration.”


NCG began construction on their West Lincoln site in 2018. Wierenga said that they raised the $2.5 million dollars needed to build it entirely through donations with no government funding. It opened five months later debt-free.


The Niagara plant quickly reached capacity as “the need for food was great,” said Wierenga. 

In 2021 the group installed an additional natural gas dehydrator. “The second dehydrator doubled capacity,” said Wierenga. 


The current expansion totals 5,000 square feet, providing provide additional storage, including two new coolers for the intercepted produce and finished packages. “We’re in the home stretch with the building, but the coolers and equipment need completion, hopefully by summer,” said Wierenga.


The Gleaners installed a heat recovery system on Dryer Number 2. Its units capture available heat from their exhaust air and reroute it into the incoming air way; it’s a means of preheating the air before it enters the dryers. Another recovery system for the other dryer is currently in the works.


“We were spending upwards to $10,000 on natural gas. Our large operating budget depends upon donors.”

While NCG’s figures seem impressive, Wierenga fingers farmers as the “key piece” of this work. “We give it all away. The giver is really the growers; we transform it into dehydrated food which has an almost infinite shelf life, is stable, and has a condensed size so put a lot in a sea container, product can land in any climate with little or no refrigeration.”

“Our piece of the puzzle is transforming that produce into something safe and transportable.” 

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