23 November 2021 – conducted by Earth Refuge Correspondent Ella Kiyomi Dobson
In this interview, Jordan Hartzell provides an overview of the work The Farmlink Project does to redirect food waste and serve food insecure communities. Jordan speaks to how working with this organisation has changed how she thinks about food systems and networks. The extensive contributions of food waste to the climate crisis have helped Jordan and her team urge the importance of changing consumption and buying processes in the US. Jordan provides insights into the recent transformations within the organisation in order to adapt and better serve communities affected by intensifying weather events, such as in Texas and Louisiana.
“Thinking about the supply chain and the food system, and all of the different things that go into figuring out how food gets to the grocery store and how it’s priced has really changed my perspective. Another thing that was really enthralling, along with seeing the direct impact on the communities receiving food, was seeing the impact Farm Link had on the people getting involved.”
Jordan Hartzell is from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and is currently a senior at Brown University studying Applied Mathematics – Computer Science. As a member of the founding team of The Farmlink Project, she has occupied several roles during a gap year from college. She started as the lead of the logistics team, where she wrote protocols for Farmlink’s food-moving operations and built relationships throughout the agricultural supply chain. In the fall of 2020, Jordan created the Product Team in order to design a sustainable model for rescuing surplus produce at scale; in co-leading this team with Jack Rehnborg, Jordan and her teammates built a software tool to decrease the time, energy, and logistical headache involved in coordinating Farmlink’s delivery operations. Now that her gap year is complete, Jordan is playing a supporting role to new Farmlink fellows as the team grows. When she’s not working with Farmlink, Jordan loves to rock climb and read.
