Wikipedia's first sentence called it “collection of leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been mechanically harvested or on fields wher”. Today it says “act of collecting leftover crops in the field after harvest”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Form of agricultural harvest”. It now reads “Form of food recovery”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Gleaning is the collection of leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been mechanically harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest.1Often gleaning is practiced by humanitarian groups which distribute the gleaned food to the poor and hungry. When people glean and distribute food, they put themselves at some legal risk. In the U.S., a law signed in 1996 (The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act) promotes food recovery by limiting the liability of donors to instances of gross negligence or intentional misconduct. The practice of gleaning is thousands of years old; it is mentioned in the Bible , in Leviticus 23:22: And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God. v t e2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17784573.
The opening as it stood in 2010 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Jean-François Millet. 1857 Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest.Some ancient cultures promoted gleaning as an early form of a welfare system.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 363696404.
The opening as it stood in 2015
The Gleaners , Jean-François Millet , 1857 Gleaning (formerly 'leasing') is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. Some ancient cultures promoted gleaning as an early form of a welfare system.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 667776923.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet , 1857. Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. It is a practice described in the Hebrew Bible that became a legally enforced entitlement of the poor in a number of Christian kingdoms.The Agricultural History Review , vol. 45, no. 1 (1997): 61-72. .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 952834082.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Form of agricultural harvest This article is about the agricultural process. The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet , 1857 Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. It is a practice described in the Hebrew Bible that became a legally enforced entitlement of the poor in a number of Christian kingdoms. Modern day " dumpster diving ", when done for food or culinary ingredients, is seen as a similar form of food recovery .Gleaning is also still used to provide nutritious harvested foods for those in need.It is modernly used due to a need for a national network to aid food recovery organizations in the United States.This is called the National Gleaning Project which was started by the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School to aid those less fortunate much like the old Christian Kingdoms.The Agricultural History Review . 45 (1): 61– 72."Gleaning in the 21st century: Urban food recovery and community food security in Ontario, Canada" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1177372426.
The opening as it stood in 2025 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Form of food recovery This article is about the agricultural process.The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet , 1857 Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops in the field after harvest.During harvest, there is food that is left or missed often because it does not meet store standards for uniformity.Sometimes, fields are left because they were not economically profitable to harvest.In modern times, gleaning is used to provide fresh foods to those in need. " Dumpster diving ", when done for food or culinary ingredients, is seen as a similar form of food recovery . There are multiple organizations that support gleaning, including the Gleaning Network in the UK, and the National Gleaning Project in the United States.Both organizations have worked on national networks to connect modern gleaning and food recovery organizations. The Agricultural History Review . 45 (1): 61– 72. "Gleaning in the 21st century: Urban food recovery and community food security in Ontario, Canada" . National Gleaning Project | Gleaning-related resources . 2018-12-11 .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1297487490. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “collection of leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been mechanically harvested or on fields wher”. Today it says “act of collecting leftover crops in the field after harvest”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Form of agricultural harvest”. It now reads “Form of food recovery”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
collection of leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been mechanically harvested or on fields wher
Now
act of collecting leftover crops in the field after harvest
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
