PALM DESERT, Calif. — First off, don’t call it “food waste.”
At least, don’t call it that when you’re talking about food that has to be discarded before it reaches the retail shelf or dining table, said Lisa Johnson, independent food and agriculture consultant.
Instead, call it "food loss."
“This is food that didn't make it all the way to a consumer, mostly because of technical limitations in harvest in production, in storage and distribution. Typically, you would consider food that becomes waste at the retail restaurant or consumer level more so a result of a behavior or a decision,” she said. Johnson was a panelist at the May 18 Sustainable Produce Summit’s “Food Fight: Reducing Waste Through Sustainable Solutions” education session.
In 2021, farming generated 15.5 million tons of surplus produce, more than 80% of which was left behind in the fields and never harvested. Only 1.6% was donated for hunger relief.
“The main drivers of food loss on farms really have nothing to do with something the farmer did or didn't do,” Johnson said. “I think our farmers are producing at the absolute top capacity.”
Solutions to reducing food loss involve all stages of the supply chain, collaboration, innovation and technology, panelists said.
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Food loss or food waste reduction should be incentivized more, said Evan Ehlers, founder of Sharing Excess. The Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization rescues and distributes surplus food nationally from grocers, retailers and wholesalers to communities experiencing food insecurity.
“I think that there are incredible programs that happen on the state level that are not happening in every state,” Ehlers said. “For example, in Pennsylvania there's a neighborhood assistance program that provides [a] 55% tax credit for donated food, and that's actually valuable enough for a business to go after.”
Sharing Excess will write the grants on the business’ behalf or the equivalent of a grant application for a tax credit, and will track everything. The organization has helped the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market receive more than $1.5 billion in tax credits within the last year, he said.
“And that incentive, in speaking to their bottom line, has made that difference for them to say ‘OK, this is a priority for us.’ You know, in an industry where margins are so thin, this can actually be a place to make a huge difference.”
Disposing of unsold food can be expensive, not mention the loss of profit, so the cost savings of reducing food loss are a great argument to make when trying to convince upper management to incorporate some more sustainable changes at your company, said Adam Preslar, chief technology officer of Hazel Technologies, where he develops new food waste technologies and leads technical business development.
“There's a real strong business case that we can use to argue with the right kind of metrics,” Preslar said.
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Growers tell Johnson that they need higher prices. They need more opportunities for processing. They need incentives for donation, more consumption and maybe a modification on quality expectations.
“If you’re a buyer or a retailer, you can do something. You can start to understand your actions that might lead to losses on farms. You can be the one to do something about it, and you can help own that story,” Johnson said.
“Wouldn't it be great if you were the retailer that looked all the way back to what your producers are having to deal with and you shared the risks, or you widened your specs by a quarter inch to accept a little more into the marketplace? If there was a small tweak that you could make, I mean, what an exciting story," she said.