The study also points out that growers often have little control over how much produce is lost. The Center for Environmental Farming Systems is a partnership of North Carolina State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Some pressing farm-level questions include: how much edible produce is left unharvested, why does this happen, and how can it be recovered efficiently and economically? Though the approach has promise, growers say the volume rescued is relatively small so far. Some critics also suggest the companies are incentivizing farmers to overproduce to meet the demand of the ugly produce movement. It contracts with processors who can cover the farmers’ labor costs while paying less for produce. The fruits or vegetables are picked up directly from packing sheds (in some cases, directly from the farm) and immediately delivered to food banks in the western region, said Steve Linkhart, director of the Association’s Farm to Family program. No grower wants people to go hungry. Dumped Milk, Smashed Eggs, Plowed Vegetables: Food Waste of the Pandemic With restaurants, hotels and schools closed, many of the nation’s largest farms … Food production in the US uses 15.7 percent of the total energy budget, 50 percent of all land and 80 percent of all freshwater consumed. 13 Food loss occurs on farms for a variety of reasons. However, they cannot afford to harvest a crop for the purpose of donation. The sixth generation grower could not justify paying workers to pick them all because the cost of labor, packing, and, shipping would have been more than the price he could get for the fruit. Another idea is for retailers to buy entire fields from growers so that they would own the entire crop, said Baker, the study’s author. Last year, the program shipped 164 million pounds of fruits and veggies; in July, the organization hit a record with 16 million pounds in a single month. But the most important variable driving grower decisions is the cost of labor. If something reaches the packinghouse that doesn’t have an immediate market destination, many growers are happy to donate highly perishable produce. When an oversupply or a food-safety scare leads to rock-bottom prices, it’s cheaper to till it in and start fresh. Dozens of similar programs operate around the country, including the Borderlands Produce Rescue and the Community Food Bank in Arizona, which rescue surplus produce at the port entry of Nogales. Become a member today to read unlimited stories. Michael’s experience, it turns out, is fairly typical. They didn’t design the system and they are not the villains,” said Greg Baker. A few organizations, such as Farm to Pantry, do organize teams of volunteers to glean produce on farms after the harvest, but the numbers of farmers who participate are small and volunteers can be hard to find. This is a much larger percentage than previously reported—and it may end up dramatically increasing the current estimate of overall food waste in the U.S.—which until now has been long tallied at 40 percent. Because our agricultural system relies on many individual growers feeding into multiple supply chains, and because it is difficult and expensive to travel to area farms to measure losses that are often farm-specific and non-generalizable, many food waste studies just don’t mention farm-level waste. It turns out, that a significant amount of healthy, nutrient-dense fruit and vegetables is left unharvested in farmer’s fields, never reaching the food supply. By far the highest waste, at 113 percent (meaning more is lost than sold), occurred with romaine hearts, where all of the outer leaves were left in the fields. Due to liability issues and food safety rules, most farmers don’t let the public come to harvest crops in the fields. Getting the crop out of the field is the expensive part. New research underway by graduate student Lisa Johnson at North Carolina State University with the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) is tackling these questions. Produced by Chris King, a documentary and portrtait photographer and video producer from Ireland, currently based in London, Food Is Wasted is a platform he created to share his exploration of the issue of food waste. It found that food loss varied depending on the crop, and even on the variety of produce. The following organizations and solutions can help you donate, sell, buy, move, and store food, helping to reduce the surge in food going to waste at the farm level due to COVID-19 supply chain disruptions – contact them directly to see if their services will work for you. However, the calculations behind it leave out a very important part of the food system: farm-level food waste. When the economics dictate, the grower calls off the harvest, regardless of what’s left. They’re helping (to reduce) one of the greatest contributors to climate change,” said Christine Moseley, founder and CEO of Full Harvest. Copyright © 2009-2020 Center for Environmental Farming Systems, Greenhouse Gas Emission Monitoring Project, International Collaboration in Organic Agriculture, Committee on Racial Equity in the Food System, NC Leadership & Cattle Handling for Women Producers. And the state’s minimum wage is due to increase gradually from $12 per hour to $15 by 2023. If, for example, food chain operators fail to maintain the cleanliness of the processing equipment and the facility, over time, produce can end up being contaminated and unfit for consumption. Food loss and waste problems are also generated in processing facilities where food is sometimes mishandled by employees making food unsafe. Typically, brokered produce sales from mid-sized farms leave the grower with cents on the dollar, even though fresh produce is still too expensive for some consumers. “It’s sad because they grow this produce, their dads and grandfathers grew it. And they say setting up the logistics of culling excess produce is complicated and costly. In fact, just the opposite is true. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Most other studies have used less reliable grower surveys to estimate produce left in fields and put the percent of on-farm loss closer to 20 percent. The California Association of Food Banks works with about 200 such growers. The farms are massive and that’s the only way we will sell more product and move the needle on food loss.”, Gosia Wozniacka is a senior reporter at Civil Eats. However, the calculations behind it leave out a very important part of the food system: farm-level food waste. Dur Report a CEFS website accessibility issue. Growers could work with local retailers and plant a set number of acres at a guaranteed price (currently, they work with marketing agents and the price isn’t set). Bowles Farming Company did this with some of its watermelons last year and the company was able to write off part of its losses, which made it financially viable to harvest and pack the produce, said Michael, the company’s CEO. Critical first steps include reducing food waste on the farm and continuously improving practices to be more efficient and sustainable. Right now, all the players do what makes economic sense for them,” Baker said. “The idea that it should be discounted is a little flawed.”, Gunders wants to see the cosmetically perfect and the “imperfect” pieces sold together. Companies including Imperfect Produce and Hungry Harvest are also trying to move the needle by delivering “ugly” produce at a discount, directly to customers. According to a new ground-breaking study about on-farm food loss from Santa Clara University, a whopping one third of edible produce—or 33.7 percent—remains unharvested in the fields and gets disked under. Early results indicate significant amounts of marketable and/or edible produce are routinely left unharvested. the Center for Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship, an estimated 40 million Americans food insecure, the third-largest emitting country in the world, rescue surplus produce at the port entry of Nogales, Small Farmers Are Struggling After the Texas Big Freeze, Op-ed: Indigenous Tribes Are Reviving Traditional Hemp Economies, As Food Scrap Collection Peaks, NYC Community Compost Sites Face Evictions, Op-ed: What the Farmers’ Revolution in India Says About Big Ag in the US and Worldwide, The People Behind School Meals Are Pushing for Free Access for All, TikTok Sensation Alexis Nikole Nelson Wants You to Love Foraging as Much as She Does, California’s Vaccine Rollout Has Yet to Reach Most Farmworkers, Op-ed: We Need to Get Food Industry Dollars Out of Politics to Save Our Democracy, Grocery Stores Continue to Push Back Against Hazard Pay for Workers, How a Food Business Incubator Is Building Black Economic Strength in Minnesota. “You want to be able to send the crew one time and pick as much as possible,” Royer said. USDA is working to better understand food loss at the farm level and ERS research is an integral part of the process, as ERS adjusts national estimates of food supplies for nonedible parts of foods (bones, peels, etc.) (Produce that was damaged by disease, rot, pests, or machinery was not included in the measurements.). One thing she said was that the mechanical harvesting of fruits and vegetables leaves a lot of food in the field. At the same time, food waste is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing 8 percent of total global emissions and at least 2.6 percent of all U.S. emissions. “As people start waking up to the reality that food waste contributes to climate change, any company that says they’re buying surplus produce sends a powerful message. But once produce is harvested, packed, and sent to a warehouse, and there’s no market for it, it often heads to the landfill, where it releases greenhouse gases. So, labor-intensive crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, and celery, which growers used to donate in droves, are no longer making it to food banks, Linkhart said. Find this article on The Huffington Post. According to Baker, growers who participated in the study were surprised to learn just how much food was being left behind. SCALE OF FARM LEVEL FOOD WASTE Estimating the level of farm waste nationally is challenging. Key ways to reduce food losses at farm level. Timing and weather are critical when it comes to producing a crop. It turns out, that a significant amount of healthy, nutrient-dense fruit and vegetables is left unharvested in farmer’s fields, never reaching the food supply. If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitting country in the world, after China and the U.S. Ironically, the earlier the food loss occurs in the chain of production, sale, and consumption, the better, experts say. But some farmers—who get demonized for working within a system they didn’t create—are seeking solutions to get that food to market. But some farmers—who get demonized for working within a system they didn’t create—are seeking solutions to get that food to market. The Rethink Food Waste through Economics and Data (ReFED) (2016) reported estimate of over 9.2 billion kilograms of food lost at the farm level annually in the US was derived from 16 grower interviews that concentrated on farms of less than 5.7 ha primarily using alternative growing practices (Berkenkamp and Nennich, 2015). Food waste research has traditionally focused on the wholesale supply chain, retail, restaurant, and consumer levels, leaving the farm out. Additionally, transporting a donation off the farm is often not feasible. Farmers grow mostly under contract with wholesalers and retailers and have to deliver what those contracts specify. In 2015, the first-ever national food waste goal was announced, calling for a 50-percent reduction by 2030. But barring any major surprises, it appears food waste will receive an unprecedented level of attention in this new Farm Bill. Feedback’s report Farmers Talk Food Waste found that UK fruit and vegetable farmers were forced to waste 10-16% of their crop due to supermarket and middlemen practices – including rejections of food for being the wrong size and shape, encouraging systemic overproduction by punishing undersupply, low farm-gate prices which sometimes below the cost of harvest, and Unfair Trading … Reducing waste means efficient use of resources, which will make our farms – and our food system – more sustainable. Farm-level Food Waste To Be Addressed With New Plan - Read online for free. Identify examples of new strategies for marketing plant food products which are not of a quality which is accepted by traditional market channels. We rely on you. Study Finds Farm-Level Food Waste is Much Worse Than We Thought Unharvested crops dramatically bump up estimates of U.S. food waste. “Imperfect produce needs to go through the main channel for more of it to be accepted. A farm field after a typical harvest (left) and after a harvest done by B2B marketplace Full Harvest (right). Unlike with retail and consumer-level food loss, farm-level loss is the product of a complex mix of forces that include field stability (how quickly a crop matures and how long it can stay in the field before going bad), weather, pests and plant diseases, labor availability, market prices, and buyer specifications for how produce should look and feel like. CEFS develops and promotes just and equitable food and farming systems that conserve natural resources, strengthen communities, improve health outcomes, and provide economic opportunities in North Carolina and beyond. Pollination may have failed due to poor weather, leading to misshapenness; a nutrient deficiency could have produced a discoloration; or there could be minor pest damage that doesn’t affect the quality of the vegetable itself. Even when prices are higher, Royer said, growers limit labor expenses by asking workers to pick only the best quality produce. Others worry that it is displacing community supported agriculture and other smaller-scale subscription services in the marketplace. “There is a lack of awareness by consumers about how large of a problem this is at the farm level.” He added that the study corroborated the scenarios that he and his colleagues had been observing the fields for a while. As the season progresses, the price drops dramatically. Most research on food loss and food waste has focused on post-harvest, retail, and consumer levels. “The percentage of harvest is very dependent on the market,” Royer said. Losses at the farm level can be significant, however, there are no studies that we identified that quantify the volume of loss, and production level losses are not included in USDA food waste data, or other recent food waste studies (BSR, 2014; Buzby, et al., 2014; Gunders, 2012). The fate of … Here are some creative ways that people all around America are working on reduction of food waste on the farm. For some growers, it’s worth donating their produce to food banks in order to earn tax incentives. The new study measured the loss of 20 hand-harvested crops in 123 fields on mid- to large-size conventional California farms. Agricultural stakeholders recently attended the Voluntary Agreement, Implementation and Reporting Workshop on how to measure food waste, in accordance with the globally recognised World Resource Institute’s Food Loss and Waste Reporting Protocol. Unlike with retail and consumer-level food loss, farm-level loss is the product of a complex mix of forces that include field stability (how quickly a crop matures and how long it can stay in the field before going bad), weather, pests and plant diseases, labor availability, market prices, and buyer specifications for how produce should look and feel like. In its report on food waste in the UK, the government-funded non-profit organisation, WRAP, claims that more than 70% of the waste produced comes from the household — 70% of which is edible. “If market prices aren’t great, we’re not going to go gang buster and pick a bunch of boxes.”. To hedge against pests and weather, farmers often plant more than consumers demand. Co-authored by: Nancy Creamer, Co-Director of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and Lisa K. Johnson, PhD student, Center for Environmental Farming Systems, North Carolina State University. Some of the highest losses were for watermelon at 57 percent, cabbage at 52 percent, strawberries at 44 percent, and kale at 39 percent. Food loss and food waste have become major concerns in recent years. At the same time, the plants age, harvest traffic can damage the plants, disease can set in, and it becomes harder to find marketable quality. But buying and marketing imperfect produce at a discount isn’t ideal, said Gunders. Bruised or “ugly” produce is also passed by. Wozniacka worked for five years as a staff reporter for The Associated Press in Fresno, California, and then in Portland, Oregon. Now that we’ve developed a way of estimating edible and marketable food left over in farmers’ fields, and begun to understand what leads to it remaining unharvested, the next step is developing economically-viable ways of harvesting that food – getting it out of the waste stream and into the food supply, on its way to being eaten. “It was very frustrating to grow a high-quality product and have to leave it in the fields,” said Michael, the president/CEO of Bowles Farming Company, which grows 300 to 400 acres of cantaloupes in Los Banos, California, every season, in addition to hundreds of acres of watermelon, tomatoes, and cotton. Growers are not required to report losses, and many “postharvest loss” studies today still carry forward estimates that were generated in the 1960’s. While no farmer likes plowing perfectly good melons, artichokes, or lettuce back into the earth, the decomposing produce provides nutrients for next season’s crop. and losses from farm to fork in its Food Availability Data System. Most plant 25-30 percent more than the contract specifies because of all the variables listed above. Stay tuned, because we’re working on that now. CEFS research has created straightforward protocols that enable growers to take a sample and extrapolate what is in the field that might be marketable – informing their decision on whether to make another pass through the field – and what might be edible, fueling a decision on donation. This could incentivize more supermarket chains to create imperfect or grade B produce sections (several already do). It turns out, that a significant amount of healthy, nutrient-dense fruit and vegetables is left unharvested in farmer’s fields, never reaching the food supply. Read more >. Unharvested crops dramatically bump up estimates of U.S. food waste. “If the pricing drops,” due to oversupply or other reasons, said Michael, “there’s a certain economic threshold that just doesn’t justify harvesting the crop.”. This figure is based on an average of grower estimates, forming a murky picture of losses that are highly dependent on crop and market. Harvest decisions are partially dictated by nature. For example, an average over several fields suggests over 12,000 pounds of cucumber per acre (86,398 servings), and over 4,000 pounds (25,919 servings) of sweet potato per acre may be available for recovery. It’s the mixed beauty that nature provides,” she said. She wrote extensively about agriculture, water, and other environmental issues, farmworkers and immigration policy. We will continue to update this list as we become aware of more resources. Vegetable crops are harvested from one to a few times, depending on the crop. It’s their life and they have to stand and watch it get tilled under,” he added. It’s easy to see how the economics might not add up. Producer-Level Food Waste. Still, growers can write off only a percentage of what they donate. Essentially, food loss and waste is the decrease in quantity or quality of food along the food supply chain. Qualitative research with growers has demonstrated that they have no way to easily measure the amount of marketable and/or edible produce that is left in their fields. “It provides a map in terms of where we should look for opportunities to minimize food loss, and it helps us understand that it’s not as easy as farmers leaving food in the fields and we should just go get it.”. Those schooled in food waste will notice this means the suggested waste prevention methods from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Food Recovery Hierarchy are not well-suited for the farm level. The first level of food waste is on the farm. Define strategies to reduce loss of plant food products at farm level, from the selection of crops and varieties and planting to harvesting and the delivery of the product (handling, storing…). But it can also lead to a lot of excess produce. What isn’t always apparent is that those statistics only relate to what happens beyond the farm gate, and so doesn’t provide a complete picture. Fernando Cojulun is InspiraFarms’ Head of Technical Services, and has over 10 years of experience in Latin America, Africa, and the United States working with large-scale rural development programs. Farmers have been demonized. The most powerful changes, according to experts and growers, could happen at the retail level. In the end, the measured loss was on average 2.5 times more than what the growers had estimated. Food waste doesn't just come from your plate or the back corners of your refrigerator. The lowest losses were for tomatoes, sweet corn, and artichokes, though a significant amount of produce was still left in the fields. The tight ag labor market has already driven up wages, but California now also requires more overtime pay for farmworkers. “Anyone who has watched a romaine hearts harvest has had their heart broken,” said Gunders, who was not involved with the study. Learn how your comment data is processed. Farmers take those roles seriously. If you’re a farmer, it’s therefore crucial that you reduce the amount of surplus food on your farm to the absolute minimum. He has been documenting the issue of food waste since 2014, and is exploring other issues related to the industrial food system.
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