Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fiels 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. For example, ancient Jewish communities required that farmers not reap all the way to the edges of a field so as to leave some for the poor and for strangers.(Lev. 19:9–10., Lev. 23:22, Deut. 14:28-29, Peah).