This month’s Food Literacy Hero embodies community spirit, passion for healthy food, and advocacy for sustainable farming. Since its founding in 2011, Feeding Crane Farms has made its mark as the only for-profit certified organic urban farm in Sacramento.

Feeding Crane Farms partners with California Food Literacy Center to introduce healthy fruits and vegetables to low-income kids. We’re grateful to them for donating their beautiful produce for kids to taste (sometimes for the first time!) and learn more about. During our Holiday Produce Drive, they donated 100 bunches of chard for the kids to take home over the winter break. The farm has also sent representatives to visit our food literacy class as special guests. Many of the kids had never met a farmer or chef before so it was a treat for them. Perhaps it inspired the little ones to think about possible future careers!

Owner Brian Shaad is continuing his grandparents’ agricultural legacy on the 600 acre farm he visited regularly as a kid. His grandparents managed a series of ranches for horse breeding, cattle running and growing feed, and leased land to local farmers to grow rice, wheat and crops. Brian knows the importance of small farms and how they can help grow the local economy and be job creators. It took him 16 years to save the money and two years to assemble the right team before he fulfilled his dream of establishing Feeding Crane Farms.

Feeding Crane Farms is run by a team of people who are extremely passionate about good food, organic farming, and philanthropy!  Brian travels around the world helping rural communities in developing countries build solar lighting utilities and off-grid electricity generation. General manager Shannin Stein had worked for the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services in its Food Assistance Program. Operations manager Jesse Keith worked in rural developing countries to help small farmers develop innovative means to grow sustainable crops. Farmers market manager Paul Poore is also a professional chef. He can not only tell you about the various produce, he can tell you how to cook them!

“Feeding Crane is such an outstanding example of how a farm can support a whole community. The same chard the farm sells at Corti Brothers grocery store is the chard they generously donated to our low-income families. They understand the importance of quality food access for all. We’re thrilled to have such a wonderful partner in food literacy!” says Amber Stott, executive director of California Food Literacy Center.

Feeding Crane Farms embodies food literacy! It is passionate about healthy foods, uses sustainable methods to grow organic produce, participates in farmers markets, and donates time and produce to nonprofit organizations. For these reasons and much more, Feeding Crane Farms is our Food Literacy Hero!

For more information about Feeding Crane Farms, visit their website.