Surrey farmer inspires others to give away ‘ugly produce’

A potato farmer in Surrey has inspired a worldwide effort to cut down on wasted crops by giving away “ugly produce.”

Tyler Heppell, the production manager of Heppell’s Potato Corporation, says his farm has held 11 such events, where he gives away produce that doesn’t make the cut for grocery stores.

Through his popular TikTok account, he has called on others in his industry to do the same on Saturday, Oct. 14, for a so-called “Ugly Produce Day.”

“We’ve got a really great response from a ton of farmers across the world, really. Even farmers in South Africa reaching back out to us saying that they want to join this movement,” he said.

“Hopefully we can make this day into a national Ugly Produce Day every Oct. 14.”

Heppell tells CityNews that fellow farmers in the Surrey area, as well as the nearby Sumas Prairie, and Interior regions of B.C. have expressed interest in joining the effort.

The farmer says on the first giveaway day he held roughly a dozen people showed up, but ensuing events have brought as many as 4,500. It’s all done in an attempt to cut down on food waste and help out people who may struggle to afford fresh produce.

“You get to hear so many stories from people. Everyone’s super thankful,” he said.

Heppell says industry-wide, about 30 per cent of crops grown don’t make it to grocery stores’ shelves, mainly for aesthetic reasons — they don’t look good enough to sell.

For his operation, he says that equates to about two million pounds of potatoes annually, which are then processed into cattle feed.

“A lot of it is still fine to eat. It’s just the logistics issue of having to grade it out and find the resources to push it out,” he explained.

Through his produce giveaways, he doesn’t charge anything for the less visually appealing vegetables but encourages people to leave a donation to the food bank.

“It’s something we do because we want to give back to the community, but we also want to show North Americans that just because produce is ugly, it does not mean that it’s not nutritious and delicious,” he said.

Heppell’s TikTok account has nearly 560,000 followers, with his videos garnering millions of views. He started the account in June of last year in response to some of his farm’s land becoming at risk of being taken over by the federal government.

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“I never really wanted to be social media famous, if you will,” he explained. “Overnight, it kind of took off and since then I’ve been creating weekly farming content just to show people the good, the bad, the beautiful of farming and hopefully encourage some people our age or younger to get into agriculture because it is a very rewarding career.”

The land is currently under review to be included in B.C.’s Agricultural Land Reserve, which would ensure that it is indefinitely used for agricultural purposes.