Grand Farm’s giant donation celebrates Churches United’s work in food insecurity
By Adam Chalifoux
MOORHEAD, MINN. – Grand Farm, a future-focused farming collaborative working to solve the biggest problems in agriculture through technology and innovation, is using its best assets to deliver an entire truck full of corn to Churches United during this year’s harvest season.
Grand Farm, which is a division of Emerging Prairie, is a collaborative network of growers, startups, corporations, researchers, and is located on a research farm west of Fargo, N.D., just off Interstate 94.
After learning of Churches United’s ongoing struggle to provide fresh produce, the Grand Farm staff decided it could do something about food insecurity in its own back yard.
This year, during the growing season, the team at Grand Farm has designated half an acre of farmland to harvest what is anticipated to yield between 7,000 and 10,000 ears of corn to be donated to Churches United. This means fresh produce for the kitchen staff at Micah’s Mission as well as distribution at the Dorothy Day Food Pantry.
“Grand Farm was impressed to learn about the important work Churches United is doing in our community. Every year, they serve thousands of households and tens of thousands of meals,” said Grand Farm Ecosystems Director, Andrew Jason. “However, they struggle to get access to nutritious food for their population. Grand Farm saw an opportunity to support their work, give back to our community and showcase what happens when applied agricultural technology feeds people.”
In 2025, Churches United distributed 582,735 pounds of food and served 52,381 meals. One of the core pillars of Churches United’s mission is to provide access to nutritious food.
“Grand Farm’s donation will contribute to thousands of nutritious meals, making this donation a bold and innovative step towards curbing hunger in our local community,” said Churches United CEO Pastor Devlyn Brooks. “And the gift doesn’t just stop at providing food to a hungry community. There also will be an opportunity for the wider community to give back, as well.”
Come sometime in August all of that corn is going to have to be harvested ... by hand!
Which means that Churches United and Grand Farm will be throwing a late summer, corn-picking kind of good time, and dozens and dozens of volunteers will be needed to wade into the corn plot and harvest the ears by hand.
Stay tuned for more information, as this party promises to be a pluckin’ good time and an excellent opportunity to learn more about Grand Farms, Churches United and local food insecurity issues. This will be an excellent opportunity for large groups of volunteers to work together. Those interested in taking part in the harvest party can reach out to Churches United’s Volunteer and Donations Coordinator Mel Holtzer-Benitez via email at melh@churches-united.org.
Churches United was founded in 1987 in the heart of downtown Moorhead in a former Lutheran church. In 2019, Churches United merged with the Dorothy Day organization, also located in Moorhead. CU now operates Micah’s Mission, which provides emergency shelter and a community day center; Dorothy Day Food Pantry, a standalone food pantry in downtown Moorhead; and Bright Sky Apartments and Silver Lining Apartments, both permanent supportive housing apartment in north Moorhead.
For more information, see the Churches United website at www.churches-united.org.