Innovating today, nourishing tomorrow: How OneFarm Share is growing a food-secure future
What if surplus fresh produce could help feed millions while creating new opportunities for the farmers who grow it?
This World Food Day, 16 October, Standard Bank is demonstrating how innovation and collaboration can turn that possibility into meaningful impact through OneFarm Share, the flagship programme of OneFarm Impact, a registered non-profit company powered by Standard Bank. OneFarm Impact designs and runs structured programmes that give farmers access to markets and help build resilient food systems from the ground up. Aligned with this year's theme, “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow,” the initiative is helping address two critical challenges facing South Africa: food insecurity and agricultural food waste.
Developed by Standard Bank in partnership with agri-fintech platform HelloChoice, OneFarm Share uses digital technology to connect surplus produce from commercial farms, packers, processors, the national fresh produce markets, and produce sourced from smallholder farmers with communities in need.
Through distribution partners including FoodForward SA, SA Harvest and Gift of the Givers, fresh produce helps feed vulnerable communities while supporting farmers.
The impact is significant. By the end of September 2026, OneFarm Share had provided over 135 million nutritious meals since inception, feeding 1.2 million people across South Africa on a regular basis. It had channelled 33 907 tonnes of fresh produce, valued at R177.6 million, and supported 2 700 registered charities across South Africa.
Growing opportunities beyond the farm
But OneFarm Share is about more than feeding communities. It is also helping smallholder farmers overcome barriers to market access and build sustainable businesses.
Its 787 programme participants include 615 smallholder farmers, who have earned more than R85.9 million in income through the programme.
Among them are 198 women farmers, who have supplied 4 728 tonnes of produce and received R24.8 million.
For Siphiwe Sithole, founder of African Marmalade, which specialises in indigenous African crops, the initiative has created opportunities to access larger markets. By bringing neighbouring smallholder farmers together to combine their harvests, she has helped them fulfil orders they could not meet individually.
The initiative has also demonstrated its value during times of crisis, contributing 495 tonnes of produce to flood relief in the Western and Eastern Cape in 2025. Its food rescue efforts have created more than 17.4 million meals from rescued food.
These stories illustrate how practical innovation can strengthen agricultural livelihoods, reduce food waste and improve food security.
For Standard Bank, nourishing tomorrow means investing in solutions that help farmers prosper, communities thrive, and food systems become more resilient.
Because real growth begins when the benefits of innovation are shared across the entire agricultural value chain.
Discover how OneFarm Share is making a difference: https://www.onefarm.africa