The San Antonio Food Bank and the National Park Service are joining forces for a project that will provide up to about 500,000 pounds of fresh produce annually to feed the hungry.
The San Antonio Express-News reports that the partnership will use historic water rights and farmland at Mission San Juan in San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.
Longtime mission priest Jim Galvin told the newspaper that he never imagined the food bank would partner with the national parks "to benefit so many people."
Under the agreement, the food bank will maintain a five-acre demonstration farm to grow historic crops, using labor-intensive irrigation canals. It also will use 45 acres to grow whatever fruits and vegetable it chooses, with the help of pumps and modern techniques.
