Glasshouse yields over 58 tonnes of donations to Foodbank

Foodbank NSW & ACT is proud to announce University of Western Sydney’s National Vegetable Protected Cropping Centre (NVPCC) has joined the fight against hunger!

The world-class education and research facility for Australia’s protected cropping specialists, the glasshouse has produced a stunning quantity of more than 58,000 kilograms of fresh produce from production and research trials. Produce like capsicums, cucumbers and eggplants have been donated to Foodbank to support families in need. This donation is more important now than ever before as the COVID-19 crisis hits our communities.

“The NVPCC glasshouse delivers high-quality research outcomes that improve Australia’s ability to produce food crops in advanced protected cropping systems,” said Distinguished Professor David Tissue.

Foodbank receives several full crates of fresh produce from NVPCC each week. With the help of Foodbank volunteers and charity partners, this produce is distributed to vulnerable Australians across NSW and the ACT.

Foodbank NSW & ACT CEO Gerry Andersen says “the demand has increased massively by almost 50% and yet 25% of the food coming into our warehouses has dropped because demand is so great in the supermarkets.”

“This means that the productive capability of Western Sydney University’s experimental glasshouse trials is of even greater benefit to us given the extraordinary effects of rising unemployment, the effects of summer fires and drought on food prices, and the impacts from COVID-19 on home food consumption. This donation will help Foodbank feed vulnerable Australians with nutritious produce during this difficult time” said Mr Andersen.

For more information on the NVPCC glasshouse, please visit: www.westernsydney.edu.au/nvpcc.