This fall, Syngenta employees in Research Triangle Park, N.C, expect to harvest close to 4,000 pounds of vegetables from their company’s community garden project. The garden, along with yearly contributions from Syngenta, will help feed more than 300,000 people in the 34 counties served by the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.
“More than 75 employees have volunteered their time and agronomic expertise to our community garden project,” said George Aux, Operational Excellence coach for Syngenta. “We plant, tend and harvest a wide variety of vegetables, including Syngenta tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons, green beans, collards and kale.”
Since its inception three years ago, the Syngenta vegetable garden has doubled in size and now features an Operation Pollinator plot, where volunteers plant perennial flowers to attract pollinators and other beneficial insects.
In addition to the garden, Syngenta has made significant monetary contributions to the food bank. Many employees from the company’s Research Triangle Park facility also volunteer their time to help sort donations at the food bank’s branch locations.
About 650,000 people living in central and eastern North Carolina have been identified as “food insecure,” meaning a lack of money or other resources limits their access to an adequate supply of food at times during the year. “North Carolina is just one state,” Aux said. “Add up numbers like this one for every state in the country, and the challenge of feeding people in need is daunting.”
Growers, resellers and other agricultural professionals have a unique opportunity to help make lasting impacts in their own communities, Aux added. Resellers can, for example, donate leftover vegetable seed inventories, and growers can lend their crop production expertise to local community gardens. To learn about other ways agriculture is making a difference in communities across the country, visit www.syngentathrive.com/community.