Volunteers prevent 9,000 kg of peaches from going to waste in western Catalonia

A lot of fruit deemed low quality and cannot be sold because of drought

A volunteer harvesting peaches in western Catalonia
A volunteer harvesting peaches in western Catalonia / Ignasi Gómez
Catalan News

Catalan News | @catalannews | Barcelona

July 28, 2023 02:03 PM

July 31, 2023 07:00 PM

Espigoladors is a non-profit based in El Prat de Llobregat, not far from Barcelona, that fights food waste in Catalonia. 

Because of the drought, a lot of fruit has not been picked this year as it has been deemed to be of too low a quality to sell. 

In order to avoid having 9,000 kg of peaches go to waste, this group of volunteers has gotten to work harvesting the fruits on a farm in Soses, a small town near Lleida in western Catalonia.

The farm had been left without workers after its owner retired with no one to take over it. 

 

Espigoladors calls on other farmers to let them harvest their crops that cannot be sold so they do not go to waste. 

"There are many farms that have not managed to harvest the peaches and have left them on the trees," Oriol Berenguer, from the Espigoladors Foundation, told the Catalan News Agency (ACN). "We want to appeal to them to let us pick their fields." 

Once this fruit is picked, Espigoladors donates it to social entities. 

Montse del Ríos, a volunteer at the Soses farm, said: "We just want to help people, as more fruit is picked, more vulnerable people can benefit from it."