We have been brainwashed to eat perfect food...while tons of food waste and rot.
In the grand scheme of things, food takes too long to grow and too short to eat to waste it. Yet we do. A whopping 40% of the food grown in the USA goes uneaten. That equates to more than 20 pounds of food per person per MONTH! The equivalent of $165 billion *(National Resources Defense Council report)
After crops are harvested, they are sized, measured, weighed, checked for blemishes and measured for sugar content to ensure a quality and appearance that is near perfection. Marketing perfection, that is. Which means that any produce that will not pass minimum standards will either be sold for processing, and if that can’t be done, plowed back into the field. Yet, consider that fact that in high season of many crops, tons of fruits and vegetables will be dumped at processing plants. Tons.
Where does this leave us? What is our role? What is our duty in diminishing this food waste?
Education and communication.
First, we must understand farming is a business and if anyone has done even a small amount of gardening, you quickly realize you cannot control nature. You instinctively plant an extra seed or plant or two ‘just in case’. Same goes for farmers, but on a larger scale. If we did not have these perfection measurements in play, any bumper crop year could be plowed back into the soil for nutrient replacement. Thing is, the situation is sooo much more complicated than that…Solutions and changes means getting the governments – national, state and local – involved in prevention and implementation, addressing poverty and well, you know how that’s going.
Here is what you can do to help with food waste:
Visit your local farmers and farmers markets and walk with cash.
Purchase imperfect produce.
Buy local and seasonal as much as possible.
Buy some surplus and learn how to freeze/dehydrate/can/pickle/ferment
Meal plan, shop wisely and learn when food goes bad.
Learn how to store and/or cook food to reduce waste
Start a kitchen garden and start a compost pile
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