Counties across Florida are in fierce competition to claim a unique title — the winner of the peanut butter challenge.
The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is holding the Peanut Butter Challenge throughout October. The challenge encourages community members to donate jars of peanut butter to their local extension office. The counties that collect the most jars will be named the winners.
After the challenge is completed, the donations will be given to food pantries in the counties from which they were collected.
LOCATIONS: Where you can donate during the Peanut Butter Challenge
The primary goal of the challenge is to address food insecurity in Florida, said Darryl Palmer, IFAS public relations specialist. According to Feeding America, 2.3 million Florida residents are reported to suffer from food insecurity.
He said peanut butter was chosen for the challenge because it is rich in nutrients and has a long shelf life.
“Having peanut butter in food pantries, that’s enough for a small family to last a couple of days, maybe a week,” he said.
The challenge was also intended to raise awareness about the peanut industry in Florida, Palmer said. Florida is the No. 3 peanut-producing state in the nation, he said.
In many counties, peanut growers will match the donations that community members bring in to contribute to the challenge.
“They’re definitely one of our biggest partners in this effort,” he said.
The Peanut Butter Challenge brings communities together, Palmer said.
Community partners help to promote the challenge by putting out collection boxes at libraries, schools and churches within their counties, he said.
“It’s a competition thing. It’s a community thing. It’s an agricultural thing,” he said. “And first and foremost, it’s something for addressing food insecurity.”
The challenge has grown steadily over the years, Palmer said. The challenge began in 2012 between counties in the Panhandle region. In 2020, it expanded to a statewide program where all counties could participate, he said.
“There’s increasing involvement in the challenge, and the counts of peanut butter jars have steadily risen,” he said.
Jennifer Bearden, UF/IFAS agriculture and natural resources agent for Okaloosa County, said the challenge has been off to a good start. Several counties hosted kickoff events on Oct. 1 that brought in donations, she said.
In Alachua County, about 100 pounds of peanut butter were collected on the first day, she said.
“The pantries look forward to it every year, and the people collecting it look forward to it every year,” she said.
The Florida Peanut Producers Association and Florida Peanut Federation are the main contributors from peanut growers, she said. They help with marketing for the challenge and donation matching.
“What they’re doing is helping us basically take a bite out of hunger,” Bearden said.
Mike Hendriks, president of Sharing and Caring of Okaloosa County, said the challenge has brought in peanut butter donations to the food bank for as long as he can remember.
“They usually come by once a year, sometimes twice a year,” he said. “They usually leave us 200 to 300 jars.”
He said that having the peanut butter has had a positive impact on the food bank. It is among the healthy staples like rice and beans that they distribute, he said.
“If you give a homeless person a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of sliced bread, he’s good to go for about two or three days because it’s pure protein,” Hendriks said.
The donations supply the food bank for about three months, he said. The peanut butter jars can supply up to 20 or 30 people per week, he said.
“We just try to help people when they need it,” he said.
