Mexico - USA Borderland Produce Rescue

🌽 From Border to Table: How Borderland Produce Is Being Rescued and Repurposed Across the U.S.

Every day, millions of pounds of fresh produce cross the U.S.–Mexico border through ports of entry like Nogales, Arizona, one of the largest gateways for fruits and vegetables into the United States. While this trade powers food distribution across North America, an astonishing volume of perfectly edible produce is left behind—deemed too ripe, too small, or cosmetically “imperfect” for retail shelves. Historically, this excess ended up in landfills. Today, however, an innovative movement is turning that waste into nourishment for families across the U.S.

The Hidden Waste at the Border

The border town of Nogales alone sees hundreds of refrigerated trucks daily, delivering tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, melons, and other produce grown in Mexico. But due to retail standards, market fluctuations, or minor spoilage, millions of pounds are rejected and dumped just yards from the entry point. This not only represents a loss for growers and distributors—it creates an environmental burden and an ethical paradox in a country where food insecurity still affects over 34 million people.

Borderlands Produce Rescue: A Local Solution with National Reach

One of the key players tackling this issue is Borderlands Produce Rescue, a nonprofit based in Nogales. For over 25 years, they have worked to intercept discarded produce before it reaches landfills and redirect it to communities in need.

Through initiatives like:

• Produce on Wheels Without Waste (P.O.W.W.O.W.), which offers residents up to 70 pounds of produce for a small donation,
• And Produce Travels, which redistributes surplus fruits and vegetables to food banks in over 23 states,

Borderlands has created a circular model that keeps food out of the trash and puts it on tables—particularly in underserved communities.

The Role of Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona

Another vital player is the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona (CFBSA), which operates a logistics-heavy model to rescue and redistribute produce from the Nogales port of entry. With a fleet of refrigerated trailers and a strong network of partner agencies, CFBSA diverts tens of millions of pounds annually.

They work directly with importers and warehouses, offering an alternative to dumping by covering transportation and handling—making donation easier than disposal for businesses.

Scaling the Model Nationwide

Organizations like The Farmlink Project and Sharing Excess are extending these rescue efforts beyond border states. By leveraging technology, logistics, and real-time surplus mapping, they move massive amounts of rescued food from farm regions and border zones to food banks, community centers, and meal programs across the country.

With partners like Kroger, Chipotle, and regional wholesalers, these platforms are creating infrastructure that makes food recovery scalable, traceable, and efficient.

Challenges and Opportunities

Despite progress, several challenges remain:

• Food safety regulations can complicate cross-border donation logistics.
• Lack of cold storage and transport infrastructure in some areas limits redistribution.
• Many middle-class families, while food secure on paper, lack access to affordable fresh produce—a gap ripe for innovation.

However, the opportunity is massive. With 40% of all U.S. food going to waste, and a significant share of it occurring post-harvest or in transit, borderland produce recovery is not just a stopgap—it’s a systems solution.

The Bigger Picture: Food Justice, Climate, and Economy

Rescuing borderland produce addresses multiple crises at once:

• Food Justice: Getting nutritious food to low-income and overlooked families.
• Climate Impact: Reducing methane emissions from decaying food waste.
• Economic Sense: Repurposing food increases efficiency and reduces costs for producers, charities, and recipients alike.

A Borderless Vision for Shared Abundance and Reducing Food Waste

What started as a local, grassroots effort to prevent waste has evolved into a national blueprint for food equity. As border produce flows into the U.S., so does an opportunity—a chance to rethink value, responsibility, and connection in our food system.

By scaling donation infrastructure, investing in food tech platforms, and supporting cross-border partnerships, the U.S. can turn its borderlands into a pipeline of abundance, not excess.

Because food isn’t waste—it’s potential.

🌱 Top Organizations Rescuing Mexican Produce

1. Borderlands Produce Rescue – Nogales, AZ

• Mission & Scale: Operates near the Nogales border, rescuing produce rejected by distributors—including Mexican shipments—before landfill disposal (borderlandsproducerescue.org).
• Impact: Diverts 20–30 million lbs annually, supports 23 states, and provides access to produce for Arizona and Sonora communities (borderlandsproducerescue.org).
• Distribution Models:
  • Veggies R’Us: local distribution for small donations
  • P.O.W.W.O.W.: mobile produce markets
  • Produce Travels: sends bulk to food banks nationally (borderlandsproducerescue.org)
• Community Feedback: Reddit users report receiving 50–70 lbs of high-quality produce—often for $15—and appreciate improved affordability and waste reduction (reddit.com).

2. Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona (CFBSA)

• Border Rescue Focus: Salvages produce at Nogales port to reduce dumping fees for distributors and supply local/regional food banks in AZ and beyond (thecounter.org).
• Logistics Capability: Operates 35 trailers and 15 drivers to transport produce statewide from both border regions and grocery chains (thecounter.org).

3. The Farmlink Project

• National Reach: Founded in 2020 to link surplus produce from farms (incl. Mexican imports) with food banks in the U.S.
• Scale & Partnerships: Has rescued over 130 million lbs, covering 48 states, and collaborated with major players like Chipotle and Kroger (en.wikipedia.org).

4. Sharing Excess

• Tech-Enabled Network: Uses app-based coordination to rescue and distribute over 1.5 million lbs weekly from wholesalers, grocers, and farmers (sharingexcess.com).
• Widespread Operations: Active in 36 states, it connects donor businesses to hunger relief agencies with refrigerated logistics (sharingexcess.com).

5. Society of St. Andrew (SoSA)

• Grower-Focused: Facilitates donations from farms, packers, and markets across the U.S.
• Food Safety + Traceability: Ensures compliance with FSMA and provides detailed tracking of produce down to recipient agencies .
• Longevity & Scale: Over 850 million lbs of produce distributed over 40 years (endhunger.org).

🧭 Key Insights & Opportunities