The Miracle of Agriculture Foundation works to support both farmers and ranchers, as well as Utah families struggling with food insecurity. They facilitated a service project during the US Farm Bureau Convention in the exhibit hall, putting together non-perishable food boxes for families in the Midwest facing food insecurity.
“I think there's 25 products there in the line, and they've donated, and then we put it in a box and we're going to send two half loads of 50 pallets to Iowa and then 50 pallets to Kentucky,” said Clayton Beckstead, director of The Miracle of Agriculture.
Farm Bureau stakeholders in Iowa and Kentucky have visited Utah to see the foundation in action and get guidance on possibly starting something similar of their own.
“And so we just thought it would be a good way to start what they want to do out there,” Beckstead said.
For this particular project, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated everything that would be needed, including food boxes, semi-trucks, drivers and conveyor belts. Beckstead said without the church's donations, this project would not be possible.
The Miracle of Agriculture Foundation was founded in Utah by business leaders in 2020.
“We started at the beginning of the pandemic when farmers and ranchers were throwing away their produce because they couldn't process it,” Beckstead said. “So we went to the farms and ranches and collected their produce and gave it away. to people who needed it”.
