The article in the url below contains some interesting statistics regarding the extent of waste throughout the global food system:
"Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is first to find 175-220m hectares of additional cropland by 2030; second, to increase total food production by about 70% by 2050, mostly through improving crop yields; and third, to achieve all this without damaging the land, poisoning ourselves or impairing the health of our finite and already fragile ecosystems."
"This challenge is hard enough, but we also have to tackle the problem of 1.3bn tonnes of food wasted every year – roughly a third of all food produced for human consumption."
"According to the FAO, the total value of lost food is $4bn per year in Africa and $4.5bn a year in India, with up to 50% of fruit and vegetables ending up as waste. In developing countries including China and Vietnam, most food is lost through poor handling, storage and spoilage in distribution. It is estimated that 45% of rice in China and 80% in Vietnam never make it to market for these reasons."
The article proposes a variety of technological innovations (such as food packaging, refrigeration, transportation, and the treatment of animal by-products) as containing the potential solutions to these and other related problems. Reading the article, however, it sounds like a bit of common sense wouldn't go amiss either.
Have a good weekend.
David
David Chandler & Bill Werther
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Tackling the food waste challenge with technology
By Wayne Visser
July 29, 2014
The Guardian
