To fight hunger in Lane County, help the farmer
Reported by: Taylor Goebel
At lunchtime April 9, Alyssa Loza pulled sugar snap peas, carrots, bok choy and purple broccoli from a cardboard box.
“I eat so much better when the bounty boxes are around,” she said, marveling at the rainbow of Willamette Valley produce arranged on the kitchen counter in her Eugene apartment.
Her box looks like the ones paid subscribers receive. It wasn’t free; the workers who packed the box were paid. Nor was it a donation; the farmers who filled it were either paid market prices or received special funding.
Still, Loza did not pay for it.
Alyssa Loza snacks on peas as she unloads her Lane County Bounty food box in Eugene, April 9, 2026. Credit: Isaac Wasserman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield / Catchlight / RFA
The $30 produce box came from a growing food system in Lane County, powered by a $4.5 million grant and an idea: Bring local farmers into the fight against hunger.
