PA Agriculture Spotlight: Taproot Farm and Helping Harvest Fresh Food bank

How one Berks County farm partners with a regional food bank to turn organic agricultural surplus into community relief

For first generation farmers Ola Creston and George Brittenburg, farming has always been about more than just growing produce—it’s about ensuring people have access to good, wholesome food.

Before opening Taproot Farm, the married couple admittedly had very little experience in agriculture. Ola was raised in New York City, and George is from Bethlehem; when they decided to make the big move from the city to Berks County, finding an area where they would have access to high-quality organic food to nourish their growing family one of their non-negotiables.

“Access to good food became something that we felt really strongly about, and it also felt like something we could really get behind as a business,” remarks Ola.

What started as a rented five-acre plot with one employee has grown into a thriving 200-acre Certified Organic farm. In its early days, the farm sold produce at a single local market stand and served twenty-seven Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members. Today, the farm employs up to twenty peak-season workers, runs seasonal CSA programs throughout the year, supplies wholesale distributors, and sells at farmers markets across the Greater Philadelphia area.

As their operation grew, so did their ability to yield a variety of produce throughout every season. Because Taproot Farm is able to run a year-round operation, their produce includes everything from winter storage crops like beets, carrots and winter squash to salad greens during the cool spring months to high-summer produce like peppers, eggplants, summer squash and tomatoes.

But, with an abundance of produce comes another challenge that many farmers face: managing agricultural surplus.

Bridging the Gap between Surplus and Need

While the term “agricultural surplus” may not sound like a problem, producing more food than a community or market can absorb often creates additional economic, logistical and environmental challenges for the farmer.

Agricultural surplus is hard for farmers to deal with because it often comes with low prices, high costs, storage and processing limitations, environmental risks and policy-driven overproduction. Without effective market access, storage capacity or price support mechanisms, surplus can turn into a financial and operational burden rather than a benefit.

That’s exactly why the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System (PASS) was created over ten years ago.

Designed to help support Pennsylvania’s agricultural producers, PASS serves as a pathway for producers to distribute surplus agricultural products throughout the charitable food network while being fairly compensated for their costs related to harvesting, processing, packaging and transporting the food.

In other words, PASS helps farmers and producers manage their surplus by providing an additional market for them to move their surplus through while still being appropriately compensated. In addition to this, the surplus product benefits Pennsylvania food banks and pantries so our neighbors facing hunger are able to access nutritious, locally-produced food.

“Nobody wants to see their food go to waste,” says co-owner Ola Creston. “Whenever there’s an excess of produce, it’s actually really hard to figure out how to get it to families that need it.”

Through PASS funding and an impactful partnership with Helping Harvest Fresh Food Bank, Taproot Farm converts agricultural surplus into community relief.

“When we can connect with a bigger organization that has access to families that are in greater need, then it makes it a lot easier for us to get our food to people who need it,” says Creston. “You need an organization like Helping Harvest that is going to help bridge the gap between the local farm and the local community that might need food.”

“It feels really good to be able to send our produce off to the food bank and to be able to be compensated for it,” she explains. “It means a lot.”

This financial reimbursement makes a vital difference for Taproot Farm, where operating margins are naturally slim.

The margins of a farm are so small, so to be compensated is awesome for us, and it really helps us. It helps us to not worry so much when there is extra produce. It helps us feel more confident in harvesting all the produce that we don’t necessarily know how to home, because we know that we would be able to get it to Helping Harvest through the PASS program and get compensated for it at the same time. The PASS program is huge for us. It is an excellent opportunity.

Ola creston, taproot farm

Receiving compensation for extra yields gives the farm the confidence to harvest fully rather than leaving edible crops in the field. Creston adds that selling their produce through PASS, “helps keep food waste down. If we have excess, I know I can get compensated through the PASS program.” 

Recently, the farm harvested and shipped over 200 heads of fresh lettuce specifically for Helping Harvest—produce that otherwise would have been plowed back into the soil. Other deliveries have included dozens of cases of mixed summer squashes, cucumbers, beets and storage crops like carrots and winter squash.

Fresh Produce for Everyone

Beyond the practical benefits of reducing waste and supporting farm viability, the partnership helps fulfill a core mission for Creston and Brittenburg: ensuring that everyone has access to fresh, healthy produce regardless of income or circumstance. While organic food can often carry a high price tag, the couple believes nutritious food should never be reserved solely for those who can afford premium market prices.

“We know what [our produce] does for us and our family, and we just want everybody to be able to access that food. But, because of circumstance, food deserts, or whatever it is, it’s just not always possible.”

The produce that Taproot Farm sells to Helping Harvest is the same high-quality produce that the farm sells through farmers markets, wholesalers and their CSA program.

Recently, Taproot farm sold, “about one hundred cases of summer squash, including green zucchini, gold zucchini, and mixed summer squashes, of all different varieties from Italian to Mexican to yellow crookneck” to Helping Harvest. “We’ve sent cucumbers, beets, and once the storage crops are starting to harvest, we’ll probably send carrots and maybe even some winter squashes,” Creston adds.

“It’s exactly the same produce,” states Ola. “It’s just become accessible through the PASS program.”

By connecting Taproot Farm with a regional food assistance network, Helping Harvest and the PASS program bridge the gap between agricultural abundance and community need. Partnering with a food bank that has the infrastructure to receive and transport large amounts of food allows the farm to sell in volume and get “local, fresh, peak Pennsylvania produce to families that really need it.”

PASS: A Key Program Supporting Farms and Feeding Families

Creston observes that, at its core, the partnership between Taproot Farm and Helping Harvest Fresh Food Bank “helps keep our farm in motion. It helps to keep us working. It eliminates this gap between food excess and food insecurity.” By supporting local agribusinesses via PASS funding, these vital relationships between farms and food banks provide a sustainable blueprint for redirecting quality surplus food from a probable fate of becoming agricultural waste to becoming nourishing meals that our neighbors need to feed their families.

What began as a personal passion for organic farming has evolved into a dependable community lifeline—proving that high-quality, locally grown food can reach every neighbor, regardless of their income. As Taproot Farm continues to grow, its partnership with Helping Harvest stands as a powerful reminder that nourishing a community requires dedicated growers, solid support systems, and engaged outreach organizations to ensure each harvest serves its purpose: to provide everyone with the fresh, nutritious food they need to thrive.

Photos courtesy of Taproot Farm and Georgia Wescott