51
2.7 Food Wasted Is Productivity Lost
Reducing agricultural losses on the farm and food lost throughout the agricultural
value chain avoids wasted resources and unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions.
On average, Americans throw away one pound of food each day, the equivalent of
30% of the calories they normally consume. Fruits and vegetables alone account for
almost 40% of the waste, 17% is milk and dairy products, and 13.5% is meat (Conrad
et al. 2018). These wasted foods are important sources of vitamins, minerals, protein,
and calcium that promote healthy lifestyles and reduce healthcare costs. In addition,
they represent a waste of all the water needed to produce them in the field and to
process them in the value chains connecting farm produce with consumers.
Higher-income households tend to replace spoiled foods quickly, for example,
purchasing another carton of strawberries during the next trip to the grocery store
when the carton in the refrigerator goes bad. In those households, the lost nutrients
are replaced and therefore more likely to be consumed. But the price of highly perishable foods can prevent many households from replacing spoiled food right away,
so the opportunity to consume those nutrients is lost, along with the food.
Not only do spoiled foods end up in landfills producing methane, but they are a
waste of the agricultural resources used to produce them.
A USDA study calculates that the equivalent of 30 million acres of cropland
would be needed to produce the food and animal feed for livestock products (dairy,
meat, and eggs) that Americans throw away each year (Conrad et al. 2018). Nearly
4.2 trillion gallons of irrigation water is wasted, including 2.3 trillion gallons to
produce the wasted fruit and vegetables alone. Wasted fruits and vegetables are
responsible for most of the pesticide waste, while most of the wasted cropland and
fertilizer is used to produce feed for livestock.
While beyond the scope of this chapter, wasted food is also a waste of agricultural labor, capital (mechanization), and public and private sector investments in the
development of technologies for agricultural productivity and sustainability
(Fig. 2.9). The economic and environmental costs of transporting, packaging, and
storing food that eventually ends up in the garbage and landfills also need to be
taken into account in the cost of wasted food.
enterprises. The percentage of households that operated off-farm businesses
increased by 17%. The CPG grants also had a significant multiplier effect:
each Zambian kwacha transferred to a recipient generated 1.79 kwacha in the
local economy.
In order to move people from “protection to productivity,” social programs
must be accompanied by investments and partnerships that improve producers’ access to secure land tenure, transportation, electricity, and irrigation
infrastructures and agricultural knowledge and innovations developed and
disseminated by a robust research and extension system.
(continued)
2 Productivity in Agriculture for a Sustainable Future
2.7 Food Wasted Is Productivity Lost
Reducing agricultural losses on the farm and food lost throughout the agricultural
value chain avoids wasted resources and unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions.
On average, Americans throw away one pound of food each day, the equivalent of
30% of the calories they normally consume. Fruits and vegetables alone account for
almost 40% of the waste, 17% is milk and dairy products, and 13.5% is meat (Conrad
et al. 2018). These wasted foods are important sources of vitamins, minerals, protein,
and calcium that promote healthy lifestyles and reduce healthcare costs. In addition,
they represent a waste of all the water needed to produce them in the field and to
process them in the value chains connecting farm produce with consumers.
Higher-income households tend to replace spoiled foods quickly, for example,
purchasing another carton of strawberries during the next trip to the grocery store
when the carton in the refrigerator goes bad. In those households, the lost nutrients
are replaced and therefore more likely to be consumed. But the price of highly perishable foods can prevent many households from replacing spoiled food right away,
so the opportunity to consume those nutrients is lost, along with the food.
Not only do spoiled foods end up in landfills producing methane, but they are a
waste of the agricultural resources used to produce them.
A USDA study calculates that the equivalent of 30 million acres of cropland
would be needed to produce the food and animal feed for livestock products (dairy,
meat, and eggs) that Americans throw away each year (Conrad et al. 2018). Nearly
4.2 trillion gallons of irrigation water is wasted, including 2.3 trillion gallons to
produce the wasted fruit and vegetables alone. Wasted fruits and vegetables are
responsible for most of the pesticide waste, while most of the wasted cropland and
fertilizer is used to produce feed for livestock.
While beyond the scope of this chapter, wasted food is also a waste of agricultural labor, capital (mechanization), and public and private sector investments in the
development of technologies for agricultural productivity and sustainability
(Fig. 2.9). The economic and environmental costs of transporting, packaging, and
storing food that eventually ends up in the garbage and landfills also need to be
taken into account in the cost of wasted food.
enterprises. The percentage of households that operated off-farm businesses
increased by 17%. The CPG grants also had a significant multiplier effect:
each Zambian kwacha transferred to a recipient generated 1.79 kwacha in the
local economy.
In order to move people from “protection to productivity,” social programs
must be accompanied by investments and partnerships that improve producers’ access to secure land tenure, transportation, electricity, and irrigation
infrastructures and agricultural knowledge and innovations developed and
disseminated by a robust research and extension system.
(continued)
2 Productivity in Agriculture for a Sustainable Future