Seed Potato Project


	Gleaning America's Fields ~ Feeding America's Hungry

Seed Potato Project

In 1989, the Society of St. Andrew began the Seed Potato Project, a self-help program for one of the poorest regions of our country—Appalachia.

The Society of St. Andrew provides tractor-trailer loads of seed potatoes containing approximately 900 50-pound bags. Each bag goes to a family of four, which means that each load we provide benefits 3,600 people. The annual seed potato yield is generally over 5 million pounds of eating potatoes for the poor of Appalachia.

Families that receive seed potatoes from the Society of St. Andrew use them to grow potatoes in their home gardens. The recipients prepare the fields, plant the seed potatoes, cultivate the crop, and harvest the produce. This food supplements the family diet with nutritious potatoes throughout the winter.

The Society of St. Andrew’s Seed Potato Project purchases seed potatoes from a distributor in Maine and pays the freight from farm to receiving agency. Some receiving agencies reimburse a portion of the freight costs. These agencies work with the local people in Appalachia and distribute the seed potatoes to them at no cost.

We supplement the work of these receiving agencies by providing seed potatoes to them for further distribution to their clients. It is truly a cooperative effort to feed the hungry of Appalachia through this innovative self-help program.

The agencies we work with to distribute seed potatoes include those listed here.

Lumbee Regional Development Association
Pembroke, NC

Jackson Area Ministries
Jackson, OH

Cherokee United Methodist Church
Cherokee, NC

Lebanon Presbyterian Church
Lebanon, VA

Cedar Ridge Ministries
Williamsburg, KY

Clintwood Food Bank
Clintwood, VA

Bland Ministries
Bland, VA

Christian Appalachian Project
Lancaster, KY