Fighting food waste - New research and partnerships

May 31, 2024

By Farms.com

The fight against food waste is gaining momentum. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced a multi-pronged approach to address this issue.

First, they're joining forces with the EPA, FDA, and USAID to improve collaboration across government agencies. This renewed partnership, known as FIFLAW, will focus on developing educational materials, outreach programs, and technical assistance to reduce food loss and waste throughout the food supply chain.

Second, the USDA is investing in research. They're funding a new center dedicated to studying food waste reduction strategies and developing practical solutions. Additionally, they're supporting a pilot program to create educational campaigns that help consumers understand and reduce food waste at home.

These initiatives add to existing USDA efforts. In recent years, they've invested millions in programs that promote composting, support food rescue organizations, and educate young people about food waste.

Food waste is a significant problem, with estimates suggesting 30-40% of all food produced is lost or wasted. This not only impacts food security but also contributes to environmental issues.

By focusing on research, education, and collaboration, the USDA is taking a comprehensive approach to tackling food waste and promoting a more sustainable food system.

Video: Western Canadian Agriculture: Hard Times Made the World's Best Farmers

Western Canadian agriculture produced the most advanced farmers in the world not through abundance but through adversity. The crow rate fell. The wheat price went nowhere. The brown envelopes stopped.

When the subsidies disappeared, the bad farmers left and the good ones stayed. And the ones who stayed could not just grow wheat anymore. They started growing lentils and canola and peas and flax and faba beans. They built crop rotation. They got serious about agronomy because there was no government backstop. That process produced the Western Canadian agriculture Dennis Bulani describes in this clip: the most advanced, most educated farming culture in the world.

His contrast with Iowa corn and soybean farmers is sharp. At a DeKalb farmer meeting in Okoboji, Iowa, he asked what crop rotation they ran. Beans on corn stubble, corn on bean stubble. How do you fertilize? The co-op agronomist handles it. Have you considered other crops? No need. We make so much money on corn and soybeans. Western Canadian agriculture was never allowed that comfort. And now those Iowa farmers are watching soybean markets lock up with China and corn prices slide, and they do not have the agronomy knowledge or the research base to pivot. Western Canadian farmers adapted on a dime because they had done it before.

Dennis also makes the case that Western Canadian agriculture keeps adapting in real time. Low commodity prices over the past year have pushed growers to look seriously at precision spot-spray technology. He knows a neighbor who bought a sprayer with the seeing-eye system and sprayed only 80 out of 320 acres. As a chemical retailer Dennis acknowledges that will affect his sales. He supports it anyway, because if it advances Canadian agriculture and makes farmers money, that is a good outcome.

The lesson Dennis draws from the tale of two farms: continuous improvement is the only durable strategy. When canola was $22 a bushel some growers went to Arizona instead of the Crop Production Show. When the price came down those same growers came back to the research and the discipline. Products do not go on Rack Petroleum's shelves unless they pass a replicated trial first. That is what Western Canadian agriculture built through hard times: farmers who do the work whether the times demand it or not.

Dennis Bulani is CEO of Rack Petroleum and Ultimate Yield in Biggar, Saskatchewan. Dan Aberhart hosts GTF Productions, Western Canadian Agriculture's foremost live briefing platform and its foremost AI training platform for ag operators