4 ms·

Or we could stop throwing away nearly 1/3 of the food we produce...

vram22 8y ago
Great point. As a kid growing up in India, reading about recurring starvation / famine there, and in Africa, etc., I also read about some European countries dumping mountains of butter and other edibles into the sea, due to surpluses, and maybe to keep the price up. I mean, I understand it is about economics, supply and demand, profits, etc., but still, shudder
- iguy 8y ago
  Instead of making the famous mountain of butter (beside a lake of milk) they now pay famers not to farm, which has its own oddities. Including discouraging of re-wilding I think, as the land has to be plausibly farm-able to get the cash. This aside, it's worth knowing that developed countries typically throw away much less food than developing ones. Basically because Tesco is much better at logistics than a million guys trying to drive into Delhi. I don't have the link to hand but there was a nice comparison US vs Mexico on this somewhere.
  - vram22 8y ago
    >Instead of making the famous mountain of butter (beside a lake of milk) they now pay famers not to farm, which has its own oddities. Crazy world we live in, where being (over-)efficient has to be subsidized. There may be a thing such as being too efficient for our own good. Also, the efficiency as measured, only relates to money / profits / maximizing use of resources in industrial (including food) production, and often does not take a holistic view, which should include sustainability of resources, quality of life (not just economic standard of living) and sustainability of the planet. I had read E. F. Schumacher's book "Small is Beautiful" when a teenager, when I was more into these sorts of things (did organic vegetable gardening and dairy farming, used a biogas plant, etc.), before I got into the software field full-time. I still recommend his ideas and book about appropriate technology to interested people - the concepts and principles have not changed, though technologies have evolved, and a hybrid model may be needed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._F._Schumacher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._F._Schumacher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_Beautiful https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_Beautiful https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriate_technology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriate_technology >Including discouraging of re-wilding I think, as the land has to be plausibly farm-able to get the cash. Yes, re-wilding is a good idea. >This aside, it's worth knowing that developed countries typically throw away much less food than developing ones. Basically because Tesco is much better at logistics than a million guys trying to drive into Delhi. I don't have the link to hand but there was a nice comparison US vs Mexico on this somewhere. Possibly. I do know that plenty of waste happens in India too. In fact, Schumacher's ideas are very much suited to and applicable to developing countries. IIRC he was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi some, and Gandhi also had done significant work in this area, in practice, not just talking about it, either - including hugely encouraging Indian people to do naturopathy, nature cure, small scale industry work like traditional means of spinning and weaving for khadi (a great hand-made Indian cotton textile), etc. We still have Khadi & Village Industries Emporiums here, where one can buy clothing made of khadi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadi#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadi#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinning_wheel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinning_wheel http://www.kvic.org.in/kvicres/index.php http://www.kvic.org.in/kvicres/index.php
pkaye 8y ago
I'm guessing a lot more waste happens towards to consumer side. Producers for example sort out misshapen fruits and vegetables for use in manufacturing processes. Tomato sauce, jams, pre-chopped veggies. Scrap vegetable waste goes for animal feed. Scrap meat for pet food, etc. But when it gets to the grocery store or restaurant, the waste food is less likely to be used in this manner.
alacombe 8y ago
We don't. There is pretty much 0 loss in meat once you take into account derivative products (including both pet food and the chemical industry).
- sp332 8y ago
  A UN study from 2013 showed that 1/3 of all food made worldwide is discarded as waste, about 1.3 billion pounds per year. http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3347e/i3347e.pdf http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3347e/i3347e.pdf A recent survey of US households shows that they throw away an average for 250 pounds of food per year. http://ada.multimedia-newsroom.com/index.php/2018/11/26/survey-nearly-all-americans-admit-to-wasting-food/ http://ada.multimedia-newsroom.com/index.php/2018/11/26/surv...

Great point. As a kid growing up in India, reading about recurring starvation / famine there, and in Africa, etc., I also read about some European countries dumping mountains of butter and other edibles into the sea, due to surpluses, and maybe to keep the price up. I mean, I understand it is about economics, supply and demand, profits, etc., but still, shudder

iguy 8y ago
Instead of making the famous mountain of butter (beside a lake of milk) they now pay famers not to farm, which has its own oddities. Including discouraging of re-wilding I think, as the land has to be plausibly farm-able to get the cash. This aside, it's worth knowing that developed countries typically throw away much less food than developing ones. Basically because Tesco is much better at logistics than a million guys trying to drive into Delhi. I don't have the link to hand but there was a nice comparison US vs Mexico on this somewhere.
- vram22 8y ago
  >Instead of making the famous mountain of butter (beside a lake of milk) they now pay famers not to farm, which has its own oddities. Crazy world we live in, where being (over-)efficient has to be subsidized. There may be a thing such as being too efficient for our own good. Also, the efficiency as measured, only relates to money / profits / maximizing use of resources in industrial (including food) production, and often does not take a holistic view, which should include sustainability of resources, quality of life (not just economic standard of living) and sustainability of the planet. I had read E. F. Schumacher's book "Small is Beautiful" when a teenager, when I was more into these sorts of things (did organic vegetable gardening and dairy farming, used a biogas plant, etc.), before I got into the software field full-time. I still recommend his ideas and book about appropriate technology to interested people - the concepts and principles have not changed, though technologies have evolved, and a hybrid model may be needed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._F._Schumacher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._F._Schumacher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_Beautiful https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_Beautiful https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriate_technology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriate_technology >Including discouraging of re-wilding I think, as the land has to be plausibly farm-able to get the cash. Yes, re-wilding is a good idea. >This aside, it's worth knowing that developed countries typically throw away much less food than developing ones. Basically because Tesco is much better at logistics than a million guys trying to drive into Delhi. I don't have the link to hand but there was a nice comparison US vs Mexico on this somewhere. Possibly. I do know that plenty of waste happens in India too. In fact, Schumacher's ideas are very much suited to and applicable to developing countries. IIRC he was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi some, and Gandhi also had done significant work in this area, in practice, not just talking about it, either - including hugely encouraging Indian people to do naturopathy, nature cure, small scale industry work like traditional means of spinning and weaving for khadi (a great hand-made Indian cotton textile), etc. We still have Khadi & Village Industries Emporiums here, where one can buy clothing made of khadi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadi#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khadi#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinning_wheel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinning_wheel http://www.kvic.org.in/kvicres/index.php http://www.kvic.org.in/kvicres/index.php

pkaye 8y ago

I'm guessing a lot more waste happens towards to consumer side. Producers for example sort out misshapen fruits and vegetables for use in manufacturing processes. Tomato sauce, jams, pre-chopped veggies. Scrap vegetable waste goes for animal feed. Scrap meat for pet food, etc. But when it gets to the grocery store or restaurant, the waste food is less likely to be used in this manner.

alacombe 8y ago

We don't. There is pretty much 0 loss in meat once you take into account derivative products (including both pet food and the chemical industry).

sp332 8y ago
A UN study from 2013 showed that 1/3 of all food made worldwide is discarded as waste, about 1.3 billion pounds per year. http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3347e/i3347e.pdf http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3347e/i3347e.pdf A recent survey of US households shows that they throw away an average for 250 pounds of food per year. http://ada.multimedia-newsroom.com/index.php/2018/11/26/survey-nearly-all-americans-admit-to-wasting-food/ http://ada.multimedia-newsroom.com/index.php/2018/11/26/surv...