Inmates from the Pugsley Correctional Facility near Kingsley picked apples in northern Michigan this week as part of an effort to ensure that this years bountiful apple crop is put to good use, the Traverse City Record Eagle reports.

The prisoners worked at the Northport farm of apple grower Stan Silverman who donated thousands of pounds of excess apples to Forgotten Harvest, a metro Detroit food rescue organization. The donation of apples and labor was coordinated by the Traverse City Fresh Food Partnership.

Statewide, Michigan’s apple crop is projected a 1.15 billion pounds, according to the Michigan Field Office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s up 92 percent from last year’s sate apple crop that tumbled because of spring frost damage.

In its newsletter Forgotten Harvest says that it expects to deliver 12 million pounds of food in 2009. Statewide, food pantries are reporting a 30 percent increase in demand over last year.

Pugsley Correctional Facility also operates a garden which produces food for the needy.