URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2020_Melissa-McCarthy

as growing vegetables, composting and food preservation, including some offered in Spanish. More than 7,000 people attended, with 97 percent of those surveyed afterwards reporting that they learned something new and 96 percent planning to change their gardening behavior after attending. In partnership with Hope’s Harvest RI, a Pawtucket-based organization sponsored by Farm Fresh Rhode Island, the Master Gardeners are also helping to collect surplus produce from local farms to deliver to food pantries and other hunger relief agencies in a practice called gleaning. And they are continuing to produce vegetables at community gardens around the state for donation to food pantries. “By having trained volunteers in the community, we’ll be able to help people become more self-sufficient, either by growing their own food or encouraging them to support local farmers and local food.”

URI Master Gardener Nan Quinlan.

FOOD SECURITY: URI’S MASTER GARDENERS PROGRAM In the face of the pandemic, URI Master

- Vanessa Venturini

Gardeners have taken steps to make local food even more local by supporting those interested in growing their own food. “By having trained volunteers in the community, we’ll be able to help people become more self- sufficient, either by growing their own food or encouraging them to support local farmers and local food,” said Vanessa Venturini, state coordinator of the Master Gardener program. Even before the COVID-19 virus emerged, the Master Gardeners were planning to launch an initiative to support the local food system, but the pandemic made it even more timely to do so. “There has been a huge resurgence in interest in gardening as a result of the pandemic, including many who are gardening for the first time,” Venturini said. So the Master Gardeners and URI faculty and staff offered a series of webinars on such topics

State Coordinator Vanessa Venturini Master Gardener Program

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