What changes could be made: part 2

In the previous Step, you read about the actions each stakeholder can take to reduce food loss. In this Step, you’ll see real-world examples and initiatives that contribute to food loss reduction.

You’ll also discuss the role of policy-making and awareness-raising in reducing food loss. Finally, you’ll reflect on how collaboration between stakeholders can help tackle food loss.

Exploring and measuring where and how much loss occurs before, during and immediately post-harvest has been the focus of projects exploring food loss. Two examples of this are the Hidden Waste and No Food left behind initiatives from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Farmers and agricultural workers

Some farmers may think identifying, measuring and recording food loss is not a valuable activity, if they believe on-farm food loss to be minimal. There’s also a cost to measuring food loss – it takes time, money, and places additional pressures on farmers and farmworkers.

The lack of a shared definition can also make measuring food loss difficult – what exactly should be measured, and once it has been measured, who should these losses be reported to? Decisions on when and where to measure food loss will vary by commodity. For example, food loss on dairy farms will be at different times and for different reasons than on an arable farm.

For a deeper understanding of how data may be recorded, have a look at the food waste reduction roadmap developed by WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) which includes a food loss data collection sheet.

Consumers

Having information about where food loss occurs before it leaves the farm and why this food is lost (e.g. blemished, imperfect, over-production) helps consumers make informed choices. For example, consumers could choose to buy produce that might otherwise be lost or buy direct from the farm (farm shops), or order vegetable and fruit boxes from retailers focussing on imperfect produce. You may like to read ‘How ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables could tackle food waste and solve supermarket supply shortages’ article on The Conversation website.

Consumers may also care about the environmental impacts of food loss and the unnecessary use of resources (such as water, land and fertiliser) in growing food that is never eaten. A range of organisations raise awareness of food loss including charities, government bodies and retailers including International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste and The Consumer Goods Forum.

Technology developers

Technological innovation supports better food loss measurement and reporting to help farmers reduce food loss. Potential examples include:

• Monitoring crop and livestock growth and development
• Adapting machinery and equipment to reduce damage during harvest
• Modelling to explore optimum planting and livestock stock levels to reduce over-production and maintain livestock and crop health
• Developing software tools for farmers to use in monitoring food loss

Look back at Step 2.9 to remind yourself about the development of innovative technology solutions to better measure food loss.

Policy makers

Aggregated food loss data – associated with key commodities at different territorial (local, regional and national) scales – can help policy makers develop impactful policies and support packages. Administrators and policy makers could also provide support to farmers to measure and report plot-level food loss. In order to do this, policy makers need to be aware of the financial, environmental and social benefits of measuring, reporting and ultimately reducing food loss.

Resources to develop a deeper understanding:

• The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) Policy Support and Governance Gateway offers a range of tools, guidance and papers on food loss and waste
• The World Resources Institute (WRI) Reducing Food Loss and Waste: Setting a Global Action Agenda report “identifies a three-pronged approach to halve food loss and waste by 2030”
• In relation to policy, food assurance schemes (for example Red Tractor and LEAF in the UK) could explore including measures of food loss in their schemes, supporting both measuring loss and raising awareness.

Retailers

Raising awareness about food loss supports informed consumer choice. Campaigns may focus on using imperfect fruit and vegetables, how to prepare and cook different varieties of fruit and vegetables, using parts that would otherwise contribute to food loss (e.g. carrot greens/fronds) or choosing different cuts of meat to reduce on-farm food loss. Have a look at some examples:

• Ugly Fruits Not! – Ugly Fruits Not ! An innovative educational program towards sustainable consumption and food waste reduction
• 3 Food Waste Facts About France’s Ugly Produce Campaign on Organic Authority website.
• Backing British Wonky Fruit & Veg a campaign by Morrisons supermarket.

Raising awareness can have an impact. A 2023 YouGov study highlights factors making UK consumers more or less likely to buy imperfect produce. The study finds over 75% are likely to buy imperfect fruit and vegetables. Of these, 72% are motivated by lower prices and 63% by a commitment to reduce food waste (63%). On the other hand, consumers are deterred by quality, appearance and perceptions of taste.

Collaboration

Collaboration between stakeholder groups is key to co-developing ways to reduce food loss. Examples include:

• Farmers sharing food loss data with policy makers and retailers
• Technology developers working with farmers to co-develop technologies to reduce loss
• Retailers working with farmers to explore how changing buying policies and quotas could reduce food loss
• World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has launched the Global Farm Loss Tool to encourage food loss reporting and greater collaboration between producers and retailers

“Tackling food losses and waste means working together with all key players from public and private sectors in order to better identify, measure, understand and find solutions to reduce food losses waste. There is not one single cause with one solution because the food chain is a complex and dynamic system. All actors in the food chain need to work together to find solutions, from farmers, processors, manufacturers and retailers through to consumers themselves. Policy makers, research scientists, food banks and other NGOs also play an important role.” (EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste – European Commission)

Do you think that raising awareness of how certain crops or varieties generate more food loss (e.g. varieties that are more often blemished, more frequently damaged by adverse weather, more easily damaged during on-farm processing) would encourage consumers to buy different varieties?

How else do you think recording food loss on a farm could influence other stakeholders to change their practices? Share your thoughts in the discussion below.

Resources

• The European Food Loss and Waste Hub brings together resources and information about food loss and initiatives around food loss in the European Union Member States.
• Research Briefing: Food Waste in the UK is a briefing aimed at policy makers and brings together information about food loss and waste and some of the actions and initiatives in place to reduce it
• Food Loss and Food Waste Policy Support and Governance from the FAO has key policy messages and figures on global food loss and waste
• Article on ‘How to reduce and recycle food waste on your farm’ on Brushtec website.
• Estimating on-farm food loss at the field level: A methodology and applied case study on a North Carolina farm – an open access paper detailing some of the methods that can be used to measure on-farm food loss.
• Johnson, LK et al (2018) Estimating on-farm food loss at the field level: A methodology and applied case study on a North Carolina farm, Resources. Conservation and Recycling 137 (243-250)
• Series of brief case studies from various suppliers to a UK supermarket looking at how growers and food manufacturers have reduced food loss and waste. The majority focus on food waste, but some examples of changes to reduce food loss are also given.