Reducing food waste is an important social, environmental and economic issue in American society, as well as in the food and agriculture industries, today. Reducing the amount of food we waste from the farm to the home offers huge benefits across the board for individuals and for the country as a whole.
Here are some startling facts from the U.S. government and other sources:
- 40% of all food produced in the United States is wasted.
- 25% of all the freshwater we use goes to produce food we never eat.
- 4% of the oil we consume goes to produce food we never eat.
- $166 billion (retail value of preventable food waste) is spent on the food we never eat.
These numbers are for our entire food system – farms, food processors, retailers, foodservice establishments and households.
Farmers are the original agents and practitioners of conservation in our country. That includes doing everything they can to not waste food – but it happens even on the farm. Crops sometimes have to be plowed under, for example, or unpredictable events like heavy rain or the lack of irrigation water lead to food waste.
But the reality is that a far higher percentage of food is wasted by households than on the farm. Waste is lost profit for farmers, which is why they innovate.
Here are 3 examples of how innovation by farmers, the food industry and entrepreneurs has not only led to reducing food waste but also to the creation of new products and new product categories that have been met by strong consumer demand and satisfaction.
Innovation: Baby Carrots
Baby Carrots, which are today among the most popular veggies in supermarket produce departments, were invented by a California carrot farmer, Mike Yurosek. In the early 1980s, Yurosek found that many of his carrots were not saleable because they were “ugly” – they weren’t the size or shape that could be sold at the grocery store. Instead of tossing these “ugly” carrots, he used an industrial bean cutter to shape them into what are now called baby carrots.
The success of baby carrots was overwhelming. By 1987, carrot consumption had increased by 30% because of the popularity of baby carrots. In 2016, baby carrots consisted of a whopping 70% of total carrot sales.
Reducing Food Waste: How Baby Carrots Are Made
Food manufacturers began noticing that broken pieces of carrots were being tossed aside. Instead of wasting them, they began peeling and shaping the broken and misshaped carrots into 2-inch pieces.
Once full sized carrots are harvested from the fields, they are immediately put in trucks and taken to a facility where they are washed and sorted by size, cut, peeled and polished into 2-inch pieces. You can find baby carrots as petite, match stick, and even colored carrots.
There has been some concern about the rinsing process of the carrots, especially when chlorine is used. However, since carrots do grow underground in the soil, there is a food safety concern. After being harvested, carrots receive a gentle wash in a small amount of chlorine (the amount is less than is present in everyday tap drinking water). This is a common practice used with fresh-cut produce. Before being dried and bagged, however, the carrots are thoroughly rinsed to remove any excess chlorine.
Baby carrots are the perfect combination of farmer ingenuity (creating a product people love) and problem solving (reducing food waste).
The economic benefits of the creation of baby carrots also isn’t anything to sneeze at. The industry has created many jobs, from the farm to the produce industry, adding millions of dollars of sales to the fresh carrot and fresh produce categories. Health benefits too. Before the invention of the baby carrot, few people ate raw carrots (or ate carrots at all for that matter). Today, raw baby carrots are a healthy snack enjoyed by millions of eaters. Go light on the ranch dressing though.
Baby carrots have helped reduce food waste in an innovative and positive way.
Upcycled Foods
One of the hottest trends in the food and agriculture industries today is called upcycling. Upcycling food is an ancient tradition based on the philosophy of using all of what you have. It’s about doing more with less, and elevating all food to its highest and best use. Most of all, upcycled food is about reducing food waste, by creating high quality, nutritious food products out of the nutrients that slip through the cracks of our food system.
Upcycled foods are made from ingredients that would otherwise have ended up in a food waste destination. These are branded products from giant food companies and small companies alike that comprise nearly every food category you can think of, from canned foods and pasta to snacks and even beverages. If you go to upcycledfood.org and click on “products,” you’ll see a list of some of these branded products. It’s impressive. There’s also a list of upcycled ingredients, which is the latest initiative in the use of upcycling to reduce food waste.
Like with baby carrots, upcycling not only is helping to reduce food waste, it’s also created economic opportunity and jobs. It’s a fast-growing segment of the food industry, and new upcycled products are being introduced every month. Innovation clearly can solve problems like food waste.
Turning “Ugly” Produce Into Sexy Produce
Americans of the post-World War II generation have generally liked their fresh produce to be cosmetically perfect. The produce industry and grocery retailers aided and abetted this fetish by offering only the prettiest produce in their stores, even if it didn’t taste very good compared to that “ugly” tomato, peach or apple grown in the garden or small farm. Giving people what they want is, after all, one of the secrets to capitalism.
This is starting to change though with the “ugly” or wonky produce movement, which thanks to the Internet and online retailing is coming of age. For example, online/direct delivery companies like Imperfect Foods, Misfits Market and Hungry Harvest are selling millions of dollars worth of “ugly” produce annually, while at the same time reducing food waste. This imperfect produce in the past would have been dumped in landfills.
The market for “ugly” produce is small relative to total annual produce sales – Americans still love cosmetically-perfect fresh produce it seems – but in the last 5 years has more than doubled from previous sales. This is good for farmers who may not grow produce as much for “looks” as they do for “taste. Companies like the three mentioned above, which have raised tens of millions of dollars from investors, are partnering with farmers who also sell them surplus produce destined for food waste at a reduced price. It’s a win-win situation for farmers, the companies, consumers, the economy and the environment. “Ugly” is the new sexy to many consumers.
What’s needed to take the “ugly” produce movement and business to the next level is better marketing. Too many consumers still equate cosmetically perfect with better when it comes to fruits and vegetables, which of course is wrong.
Additionally, supermarkets need to offer more “ugly” produce for sale. Most consumers still shop at physical grocery stores and by offering some “ugly” produce in store produce departments, which a handful of small chains have been experimenting with, will go a long way to reducing food waste. Imagine Walmart, which has over 4,000 stores in the U.S., devoting even a small 4-foot section in its produce departments to “ugly” produce, for example.
Baby carrots, upcycled foods and “ugly” produce are three smart and innovative ways we’re reducing food waste in the U.S. The goal is to reduce the 40% waste number by half, to 20%, as fast as we can. As you can see, reducing food waste also is good business. It makes both dollars and good sense.
My Job Depends on Ag Magazine columnist and contributing editor Victor Martino is an agrifood industry consultant, entrepreneur and writer. One of his passions and current projects is working with farmers who want to develop their own branded food products. You can contact him at: victormartino415@gmail.com.
