4 ms·

> And yet people starve all over the place; not just in 3rd world countries but here in the USA. So either it's not that plentiful or we have a serious logistic

> And yet people starve all over the place; not just in 3rd world countries but here in the USA. So either it's not that plentiful or we have a serious logistical problem. It is the latter, in case you were curious. Access to food requires uninterrupted distribution, which is not always the case.

DougN7 10y ago
I don't think it's distribution - there is food available in every store I've seen. It's money to buy the food with, or money to buy mobility to get to the food.
- khedoros1 10y ago
  They've been playing a PSA lately saying that "40% of the food produced in America goes to waste". So, on average, people in this country are already spending close to double the amount that they should for food. So, there's distribution from farm to store to home, but there's a non-existent link out of the home into a second-stage distribution pipeline, or something.
  - leereeves 10y ago
    This might be the source of that statistic: https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-food-IP.pdf https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-food-IP.pdf Only about 25% of the losses (ie 10% of the food) are attributed to "consumer losses".
  - jelliclesfarm 10y ago
    i have a farm and more than 40% never reaches anyone. it is not worth it for me to harvest it even to donate it because the labour would wipe out my profits. but if i let it rot and decompose..make my own compost, there is some value in it for me. isnt that awful? but yea...farming reality. it is what it is..
    - khedoros1 10y ago
      Is that one of the situations where subsidies make it worth it to grow in the first place? Or where growing it as use for fertilizer makes it worthwhile? I'd note that the paper that your sibling comment posted breaks down waste into the different segments of the supply chain. The biggest single chunk looks like they're in the "consumer losses" segment, and that the PSAs I've seen are focused on how to interpret "best by" dates, eating leftovers, and buying only what you need right then, rather than trying to blame farms for waste.
- devdas 10y ago
  Money for mobility is the same as the food being too far away.

DougN7 10y ago

I don't think it's distribution - there is food available in every store I've seen. It's money to buy the food with, or money to buy mobility to get to the food.

khedoros1 10y ago
They've been playing a PSA lately saying that "40% of the food produced in America goes to waste". So, on average, people in this country are already spending close to double the amount that they should for food. So, there's distribution from farm to store to home, but there's a non-existent link out of the home into a second-stage distribution pipeline, or something.
- leereeves 10y ago
  This might be the source of that statistic: https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-food-IP.pdf https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-food-IP.pdf Only about 25% of the losses (ie 10% of the food) are attributed to "consumer losses".
- jelliclesfarm 10y ago
  i have a farm and more than 40% never reaches anyone. it is not worth it for me to harvest it even to donate it because the labour would wipe out my profits. but if i let it rot and decompose..make my own compost, there is some value in it for me. isnt that awful? but yea...farming reality. it is what it is..
  - khedoros1 10y ago
    Is that one of the situations where subsidies make it worth it to grow in the first place? Or where growing it as use for fertilizer makes it worthwhile? I'd note that the paper that your sibling comment posted breaks down waste into the different segments of the supply chain. The biggest single chunk looks like they're in the "consumer losses" segment, and that the PSAs I've seen are focused on how to interpret "best by" dates, eating leftovers, and buying only what you need right then, rather than trying to blame farms for waste.
devdas 10y ago
Money for mobility is the same as the food being too far away.