By Erin Fitzgerald, Senior Vice President, Sustainability, Innovation Center for US Dairy In April, I had the opportunity to hear distinguished experts speak at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Global Food Security Symposium 2015. As I listened to the thought-provoking discussions, I thought about how we often hear about recycling for durable goods and its important role in protecting valuable finite resources by repurposing the resource to provide something new. Yet one of our most valuable natural resources we have is food, which is critical to sustaining life. The primary purpose of agriculture is to provide food for communities and animal feed while enhancing the natural resource base. Food throughout the ages has been viewed as a primary resource to sustain life and secure economic prosperity. Our nation’s most valuable natural resource is our ability to produce food – how can we continue to nurture this resource?
An estimated 30 to 40 percent of food in the United States is thrown away—what impact does this waste have on our food system? Thrown-out food equates to a lost retail value of $166 billion each year. The food lost in the process removes valuable nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from food system cycle that could be used as a replenishment for fertilizer. The average retail store wastes about 2 tons of food per week, losing valuable nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that could help close the sustainable food cycle to grow food sustainably. Meanwhile, the disposal costs just to process and manage away costs $1 billion in local taxes per year.
The average consumer alone wastes 1.1 pounds of food per day, which amounts to over 400 pounds per person each year. National Geographic has a great photo that illustrates a family of four’s annual food waste, equivalent about 1,600 pounds of wasted food.
The problem of food waste seems enormous, but it is not insurmountable. In the next 40 years, we will have to grow as much food as all of mankind has produced in the last 8,000 years while doing a much better job of protecting soil, air, water and biodiversity. Farms will not only have to be providers of food but also a key part of the solution for climate change by providing ecosystem services. Where do we begin?
If just one family of four reduced either portion size or food waste by 25 percent, in one year it would save the equivalent of 10 trees planted on a block, or 1,314 meals donated in the community. Now, imagine if the family started improving on both food waste and portion control.
At the Global Food Security Symposium, it became clear that not only is food waste a problem in the US, it is also a global problem. Solving this problem will require the best minds in science, innovation, and entrepreneurship. One of the panelists challenged the group to take action against food waste, saying that since we have been talking about this issue for over 30 years, it’s now a question of if we have the will to change it. Symposium panelists encouraged the group to join the “fork to farm” movement, by valuing and honoring the food on our forks and, when it isn’t consumed, turning food waste into food recovery.
The greatest generation grew up with messages like those of this poster, which focused on healthy eating and valuing food as a resource. That generation understood that food was a valuable resource. We need to continue the tradition and simplicity of these messages for current and future generations.
Small steps add up, so let’s start now. To really honor the harvest, let’s recognize that food is a valuable natural resource, so let’s not waste it. I hope you will consider joining me on a #Fork2Farm movement and take some small steps to #honortheharvest.
