Gleaning

Last updated
The Gleaners by Jean-Francois Millet, 1857 Jean-Francois Millet - Gleaners - Google Art Project 2.jpg
The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet, 1857

Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops in the field after harvest. During harvest, there is food that is left or missed often because it does not meet store standards for uniformity. Sometimes, fields are left because they were not economically profitable to harvest. [1] [2] In modern times, gleaning is used to provide fresh foods to those in need. "Dumpster diving", when done for food or culinary ingredients, is seen as a similar form of food recovery. [3] There are multiple organizations that support gleaning, including the Gleaning Network in the UK, and the National Gleaning Project in the United States. [4] [5] Both organizations have worked on national networks to connect modern gleaning and food recovery organizations. [4] [5]

Contents

History

The term glean was first used in English in the 14th Century, and meant both "to gather grain or other produce left by reapers" and "to gather information or material bit by bit". [6] It has roots in Middle English (glenen), Anglo-French (glener), and Late Latin (glen(n)ō (“make a collection). [6] Gleaning is referred to throughout history, including biblical references in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. [2] Gleaning has long been a part of agricultural calendar and process, and was practiced widely by the rural poor during the 16th and 17th Centuries. Additionally, as much as one-eight of labour-based households' annual earnings came from gleaning in the 18th and 19th Centuries. [2] Technology of the mid-19th Century would heavily reduce gleaning globally.

In the Bible

According to the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, farmers should leave the edges of their fields unharvested (pe'ah), should not pick up that which was dropped (gleanings), and should not harvest any overlooked produce that had been forgotten when they harvested the majority of a field. [7] [8] [9] On one of the two occasions that this is stated in Leviticus, it adds that in vineyards, some grapes should be left ungathered, [10] a statement also found in Deuteronomy. [11]

These verses additionally command that olive trees should not be beaten on multiple occasions, and whatever remains from the first set of beatings should be left. [12] According to Leviticus, these things should be left for the poor and for strangers, [8] [10] and Deuteronomy commands that it should be left for widows, strangers, and paternal orphans. [9] [11] [12] The Book of Ruth tells of gleaning by the widow Ruth to provide for herself and her mother-in-law, Naomi, who was also a widow. [13]

Rabbinical view

In classical rabbinic literature, it was argued that the biblical regulations concerning left-overs only applied to grain fields, orchards, and vineyards. [14] The farmer was not permitted to benefit from the gleanings, and was not permitted to discriminate among the poor, nor try to frighten them away with dogs or lions; [15] [16] [17] the farmer was not even allowed to help one of the poor to gather the left-overs. [15] [16] [17] However, it was also argued that the law was only applicable in Canaan, [18] although many classical rabbinic writers, who were based in Babylon, applied the laws there too; [19] [20] it was also seen as only applying to Jewish paupers, but poor gentiles were allowed to benefit for the sake of civil peace. [21]

Historic European practice

Gleaning by Arthur Hughes Gleaning by Arthur Hughes.jpg
Gleaning by Arthur Hughes

In many parts of Europe, including England and France, the Biblically derived right to glean the fields was reserved for the poor; a right, enforceable by law, that continued in parts of Europe into modern times. [2] [22]

In 18th century England, gleaning was a legal right for "cottagers", or landless residents. In a small village the sexton would often ring a church bell at eight o'clock in the morning and again at seven in the evening to tell the gleaners when to begin and end work. [23] This legal right effectively ended after the Steel v Houghton decision in 1788.

Modern times

Impoverished Germans gleaning in 1956 Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F004601-0004, Zulpich, Getreideernte.jpg
Impoverished Germans gleaning in 1956

Gleaning events occur wherever food is in excess. In addition to supermarkets, gleaning can also occur at farms in the field. Volunteers, called gleaners, visit a farm where the farmer donates what is left in their fields to collect and donate to a food bank. In New York State in 2010, this form of gleaning alone rescued 3.6 million pounds of fruits and vegetables. [24]

When people glean and distribute food, they do so at their peril; in the Soviet Union, the Law of Spikelets (sometimes translated "law on gleaning") [25] criminalised gleaning, under penalty of death, or 10 years of forced labour in exceptional circumstances. [26] In the U.S., the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act of 1996 limited the liability of donors to instances of gross negligence or intentional misconduct, alleviating gleaning from much of the risk that was allegedly hampering the delivery of surplus food from restaurants and dining facilities to emergency food centers. The law preempts state Good Samaritan Acts, that provide less protection. [27]

The Shulchan Aruch argues that Jewish farmers are no longer obliged to obey the biblical rule. [28] Nevertheless, in modern Israel, rabbis of Orthodox Judaism insist that Jews allow gleanings to be consumed by the poor and by strangers during Sabbatical years. [29] On the island of Bali, traditional law allows fruit from a tree to be picked by the passerby from the ground—even if the tree is on privately owned land.[ citation needed ]

Currently, gleaning is often practiced by humanitarian and social groups [30] which distribute the gleaned food to the poor and hungry; in a modern context, this can include the collection of food from supermarkets at the end of the day that would otherwise be thrown away. There are a number of organizations that practice gleaning to resolve issues of societal hunger; the Society of St. Andrew and the Boston Area Gleaners, for example. [31] [32]

In the United States there are also laws that support and sanction gleaning and the National Gleaning Project, created by the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School connected modern gleaning and food recovery organizations across the United States while providing related policy and law resources, and examples of handbooks, waivers, and other documents organizations may utilize. [5] These laws allow corporations to receive grants for the use of gleaning, mandates the agriculture sector to financially sustain gleaning nationally, and sanctions the distribution of the vegetables harvested from gleaning. [5] In 2020, there were 143 gleaning organizations in the United States and Canada combined, harvesting anywhere from 163,000-5.2 million pounds of food gleaned in the year. [33]

Gleaning in art

Gleaning was a popular subject in art, especially in the nineteenth century. Gleaning in rural France has been represented in the paintings Des Glaneuses (1857) by Jean-François Millet and Le rappel des glaneuses (1859) by Jules Breton, and explored in a 2000 documentary/experimental film, The Gleaners and I , by Agnès Varda. [34] Vincent van Gogh's sketch of a Peasant Woman Gleaning in Nuenen, The Netherlands (1885) is in the Charles Clore collection. [35]

Woolgathering

Gathering Wool by Henry Herbert La Thangue Henry Herbert La Thangue - Gathering Wool.jpg
Gathering Wool by Henry Herbert La Thangue

Woolgathering is a practice similar to gleaning, but for wool. The practice was of collecting bits of wool that had gotten caught on bushes and fences or fallen on the ground as sheep passed by. The meandering perambulations of a woolgatherer give rise to the idiomatic sense of the word as meaning aimless wandering of the mind. [36]

Fishing

Gleaning in a seagrass meadow Gleaning activity on seagrass (cropped).png
Gleaning in a seagrass meadow

Along marine coastlines, gleaning has been defined as "fishing with basic gear, including bare hands, in shallow water not deeper than that one can stand". [38] Invertebrate gleaning (walking) fisheries are common within coastal (intertidal) ecosystems globally, contributing to the food supply of coastal communities. [37] [39] [40] [41] [42]

Ecological gleaning

The term gleaning is also applied to modes of feeding which involve taking food from surfaces. For example, in Australia pardalotes (small songbirds) are renowned for their feeding on lerps, scale insects on Eucalyptus sp. leaves.

Many fish forage by picking off small food items from hard surfaces, another example of ecological gleaning.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Tzedakah</i> Religious obligation in Judaism to do what is right and just

Tzedakah is a Hebrew word meaning "righteousness", but commonly used to signify charity. This concept of "charity" differs from the modern Western understanding of "charity". The latter is typically understood as a spontaneous act of goodwill and a marker of generosity; tzedakah is an ethical obligation, and it is not properly "charity", like in Christiandom, but a way to empower poor people to support themselves, helping them in developing their talents and skills.

Seder Zeraim is the first of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta, and the Talmud, and, apart from the first tractate which concerns the rules for prayers and blessings, primarily deals with the laws of agricultural produce and tithes of the Torah which apply in the Land of Israel, in both their religious and social aspects.

<i>Shmita</i> Seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah for the Land of Israel

The sabbath year, also called the sabbatical year or shǝvi'it, or "Sabbath of The Land", is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah in the Land of Israel and is observed in Judaism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unclean animal</span> Animal whose consumption or handling is taboo

In some religions, an unclean animal is an animal whose consumption or handling is taboo. According to these religions, persons who handle such animals may need to ritually purify themselves to get rid of their uncleanliness.

<i>The Gleaners and I</i> 2000 French film

The Gleaners and I is a 2000 French documentary film by Agnès Varda that features various kinds of gleaning. It screened out of competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, and later went on to win awards around the world. In a 2014 Sight & Sound poll, film critics voted The Gleaners and I the eighth best documentary film of all time. In 2016, the film appeared at No. 99 on BBC's list of the 100 greatest films of the 21st century. The film was included for the first time in 2022 on the critics' poll of Sight and Sound's list of the greatest films of all time, at number 67.

Pe'ah is the second tractate of Seder Zeraim of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. This tractate begins the discussion of topics related to agriculture, the main focus of this seder (order) of the Mishnah. The tractate discusses the laws of gifts to the poor when a person harvests their field, vineyards or trees, based on commandments in the Torah. The tractate also deals with the laws of giving charity in general. The tractate is called Pe'ah because the first part of the tractate deals with the laws of Pe'ah, while the remaining part of the tractate deals with a number of other related topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kedoshim</span> 30th weekly Torah portion

Kedoshim, K'doshim, or Qedoshim is the 30th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the seventh in the Book of Leviticus. It constitutes Leviticus 19:1–20:27. The parashah tells of the laws of holiness and ethical behavior, repeats the Ten Commandments, and describes penalties for sexual transgressions. The parashah is made up of 3,229 Hebrew letters, 868 Hebrew words, 64 verses, and 109 lines in a Torah Scroll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emor</span> 31st weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading

Emor is the 31st weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the eighth in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah describes purity rules for priests, recounts the holy days, describes the preparations for the lights and bread in the sanctuary, and tells the story of a blasphemer and his punishment. The parashah constitutes Leviticus 21:1–24:23. It has the most verses of any of the weekly Torah portions in the Book of Leviticus, and is made up of 6,106 Hebrew letters, 1,614 Hebrew words, 124 verses and 215 lines in a Torah Scroll.

<i>The Gleaners</i> Painting by Jean-François Millet

The Gleaners is an oil painting by Jean-François Millet completed in 1857. It is held in the Musée d'Orsay, in Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Re'eh</span> Torah portion

Re'eh, Reeh, R'eih, or Ree is the 47th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fourth in the Book of Deuteronomy. It comprises Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17. In the parashah, Moses set before the Israelites the choice between blessings and curses. Moses instructed the Israelites in laws that they were to observe, including the law of a single centralized place of worship. Moses warned against following other gods and their prophets and set forth the laws of kashrut, tithes, the Sabbatical year, the Hebrew slave redemption, firstborn animals, and the Three Pilgrimage Festivals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poor man's tithe</span> Tenth of produce grown in the third and sixth years of the seven-year sabbatical cycle

The poor man's tithe, also referred to as the pauper's tithe or the third tithe, is a triennial tithe of one's produce, required in Jewish law. It requires that one tenth of produce grown in the third and sixth years of the seven-year sabbatical cycle be given to the Levites and the poor.

Laws and customs of the Land of Israel in Judaism are those Jewish laws that apply only to the Land of Israel. These include the commandments dependent on the Land, as well as various customs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosher animals</span> Animals that comply with Jewish regulations for consumption

Kosher animals are animals that comply with the regulations of kashrut and are considered kosher foods. These dietary laws ultimately derive from various passages in the Torah with various modifications, additions and clarifications added to these rules by halakha. Various other animal-related rules are contained in the 613 commandments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Society of St. Andrew</span>

The Society of St. Andrew (SoSA) is a United Methodist hunger-relief nonprofit focusing on food wastage and poverty-induced starvation. The organization takes produce donations and serves them in SoSA-run distribution programs such as the Gleaning Network, Harvest of Hope, and the Seed Potato Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gleaning Network</span>

Gleaning Network is the most widespread and volunteer-oriented of the Society of St. Andrew's ministries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Bible and slavery</span>

The Bible contains many references to slavery, which was a common practice in antiquity. Biblical texts outline sources and the legal status of slaves, economic roles of slavery, types of slavery, and debt slavery, which thoroughly explain the institution of slavery in Israel in antiquity. The Bible stipulates the treatment of slaves, especially in the Old Testament. There are also references to slavery in the New Testament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leket Israel</span> Israel-based charity

Leket Israel, The National Food Bank, a registered nonprofit Israel-based charity, is the leading food rescue organization in Israel, serving 330,000+ needy people weekly. Leket Israel rescues surplus agricultural produce and collects excess cooked meals for redistribution to the needy throughout Israel via its network of 200+ nonprofit organization (NPO) partners.

<i>Steel v Houghton</i> 1788 English legal decision supporting property rights

Steel v Houghton (1788) 1 H Bl 51; 126 ER 32, also known as the Great Gleaning Case, is a landmark judgment in English law by the House of Lords that is considered to mark the modern legal understanding of private property rights. Ostensibly the matter found that no person has a right at common law to glean the harvest of a private field, but the judgment has been taken to be a more general precedent for private land matters.

<i>Worlledge v Manning</i> 1786 English legal decision supporting property rights

Worlledge v Manning (1786) East, 26 Geo. 3 CB; 126 ER 34 is a landmark judgment in English law by the House of Lords and was formative to the modern legal understanding of private property rights.

Leanne Cullen-Unsworth born Leanne Cullen is a British marine scientist. She is mainly known for her work on the preservation of seagrass meadows, which are responsible for supporting the food supply of hundreds of millions of people. In 2024 she was included as one of the BBC's 100 most influential women.

References

  1. ↑ Sands, Crystal (2022-09-30). "'Tis the Season For Gleaning". Modern Farmer. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Hussey, Stephen (1997). "'The Last Survivor of an Ancient Race': The Changing Face of Essex Gleaning". The Agricultural History Review. 45 (1): 61–72. JSTOR   40275132.
  3. ↑ Marshman, Jennifer; Scott, Steffanie (January 2019). "Gleaning in the 21st century: Urban food recovery and community food security in Ontario, Canada". Canadian Food Studies. 6 (1): 100–119. doi: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v6i1.264 . hdl: 10012/9736 . Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  4. 1 2 "About". Gleaning Network. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Laws, Resources, & Organizations for Gleaning & Food Recovery - National Gleaning Project". National Gleaning Project | Gleaning-related resources. 2018-12-11. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
  6. 1 2 "Definition of GLEAN". www.merriam-webster.com. 2024-11-18. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
  7. ↑ Leviticus 19:9
  8. 1 2 Leviticus 23:22
  9. 1 2 Deuteronomy 24:19
  10. 1 2 Leviticus 19:10
  11. 1 2 Deuteronomy 24:21
  12. 1 2 Deuteronomy 24:20
  13. ↑ Ruth 2:2
  14. ↑ PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Gleanings of the field". The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  15. 1 2 Hullin 131a
  16. 1 2 Pe'ah 5:6
  17. 1 2 Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, 4:11
  18. ↑ Pe'ah 2:5 (Palestinian Talmud)
  19. ↑ Hullin 134b
  20. ↑ Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, 1:14
  21. ↑ Gittin 59b
  22. ↑ Vardi, Liana (1993). "Construing the Harvest: Gleaners, Farmers, and Officials in Early Modern France". The American Historical Review. 98 (5): 1424–447. doi:10.2307/2167061. JSTOR   2167061.
  23. ↑ L W Cowrie (1996) Dictionary of British Social History Wordsworth Reference p.130 ISBN   1-85326-378-8
  24. ↑ Lee, Deishen; Sönmez, Erkut; Gómez, Miguel; Fan, Xiaoli (April 2017). "Combining two wrongs to make two rights: Mitigating food insecurity and food waste through gleaning operations". Food Policy. 68: 40–52. doi: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2016.12.004 .
  25. ↑ Polian, PM (2004). Against Their Will: The History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR. Central European University Press. p. 87. ISBN   978-963-9241-68-8.
  26. ↑ Solomon, Peter (1996). Soviet Criminal Justice Under Stalin. Cambridge University Press. pp. 109–116. ISBN   978-0-521-40089-3.
  27. ↑ "MEMORANDUM FOR JAMES S. GILLILAND, GENERAL COUNSEL, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE". March 10, 1997.
  28. ↑ Shulchan Aruk, Yoreh De'ah 332:1
  29. ↑ "Israel prepares for 'fallow' new year". BBC News. 2007-09-12. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  30. ↑ "Food in Community: keeping community groups fed in Totnes". The Guardian. March 27, 2014.
  31. ↑ "Gleaning Network". EndHunger. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
  32. ↑ "Boston Area Gleaners". Boston Area Gleaners. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
  33. ↑ Peterson, Shawn (2020). "2020 Gleaning Census" (PDF). National Gleaning Project. p. 63. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  34. ↑ Callenbach, Ernest. "The Gleaners and I (Les Glaneurs Et La Glaneuse)". Film Quarterly, vol. 56, no. 2 (2002): 46–49. doi : 10.1525/fq.2002.56.2.46
  35. ↑ "Vincent van Gogh: The Drawings". vggallery.com.
  36. ↑ "Woolgathering". Merriam-Webster online dictionary. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
  37. 1 2 Nessa, N., Ambo-Rappe, R., Cullen-Unsworth, L.C. and Unsworth, R.K.F. (2019) "Social-ecological drivers and dynamics of seagrass gleaning fisheries". Ambio, pages 1–11. doi : 10.1007/s13280-019-01267-x.
  38. ↑ Nordlund, L.M., Unsworth, R.K., Gullström, M. and Cullen‐Unsworth, L.C. (2018) "Global significance of seagrass fishery activity. Fish and Fisheries", 19(3): 399–412. doi : 10.1111/faf.12259. CC-BY icon.svg Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
  39. ↑ Aldea, K.Q. (2023) ‘Macroinvertebrate gleaning in coastal ecosystems: utilization, pressures, and implications for conservation’, AACL Bioflux, 16(3), pp. 1331-1345. Available at: http://www.bioflux.com.ro/docs/2023.1331-1345.pdf. CC-BY icon.svg Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
  40. ↑ Stiepani, J., Sandig, A. and Blicharska, M. (2023) ‘The Where, the How, and the Why of the gleaning fishery: Livelihoods, food security, threats and management on the island of Malalison, Philippines’, Ocean & Coastal Management, 244, p. 106806. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2023.106806.
  41. ↑ Stiepani, J., Jiddawi, N. and Mtwana Nordlund, L. (2023) ‘Social-ecological system analysis of an invertebrate gleaning fishery on the island of Unguja, Zanzibar’, Ambio, 52(1), pp. 140–154. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-022-01769-1.
  42. ↑ Stiepani, J. (2024) ‘Changing Coastlines of the Indo-Pacific : Local livelihoods and use of ecosystem resources from a social-ecological systems perspective’. Available at: https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-526284 (Accessed: 7 May 2024).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.