Second Harvest Northland touts $1M state grant to assist in food rescue

DULUTH — On Earth Day, April 22, Second Harvest Northland celebrated its recent $1 million grant from the state as part of an effort to prevent wasted food and encourage food rescue.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency awarded the grant toward the costs of the organization’s recently constructed freezer and cooler at its new Duluth facility. The increased capacity allows millions of pounds of food to be diverted from landfills, according to Second Harvest.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates as much as 30% to 40% of food produced in the United States is wasted.

Over the past year, Second Harvest reported it has rescued more than 7.5 million pounds of surplus food from national and regional wholesalers and retailers like Super One, Walmart, Cub, Costco, Aldi and more, as well as farmers and growers.

The new freezer and cooler are assisting the organization in its goal to increase its capacity for food rescue by 310% in 2032.

It remains amid the public phase of its $20 million "Nourish the Northland" capital campaign to complete construction at its new facility, in which $11.9 million has been raised to date.

Second Harvest Northland distributes to food shelves, on-site meal programs and tribal organizations across a 15-county region in northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin. These include St. Louis, Carlton, Lake, Cook, Aitkin, Cass, Crow Wing, Itasca, Koochiching, Kanabec and Mille Lacs counties in Minnesota, and Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland and Iron counties in Wisconsin.