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2. Food Waste on Farms
It’s useful to gain a basic understanding of why and how food gets wasted on the farm before you start contacting farmers. Having this knowledge will help you identify which farms in your area are likely to have surplus and at which times of year. It will also give the farmer reassurance that they are dealing with someone who understands the issues.
Types and causes of farm level food waste
Systematic Overproduction
Farmers often over-plant their crop to make sure they do not under-supply their buyers. It is often difficult to sell the ‘surplus’ quantity.
Cosmetic Standards
Fruits and vegetables are often rejected by supermarkets because they are not the ‘right’ size, shape or colour.
Order Cancellations and Changes to Forecasts
Buyers sometimes cancel orders, or significantly decrease the order quantity – leaving farmers with produce they will struggle to sell.
Pick-Your-Own (PYO) Farms
Often at the end of a season, PYO farms experience reduced numbers. Also, extreme weather during summer months can deter customers.
Harvesting Capacity
In some instances, farmers can struggle to recruit and retain enough staff to bring in the whole crop. Produce may be left unpicked due to a shortage of hands.
Unpredictable Weather
Unseasonal conditions can result in mis-timed crop ripening, gluts or sub-standard produce. An example is cherries splitting if they are rained on when ripe. Similarly warmer than seasonal weather can speed up when crops are ready to pick and cause a mismatch between a farm’s supply and orders.
Trials
Farmers experiment with different crops, without necessarily having a buyer.
Food Waste Fact
UK Farmers are forced to waste 10-16% of their crop annually. The edible waste is often too ugly or the wrong size (Foodrise, 2018)
Read more on foodrise.org.uk
Where and when does waste occur?
In the Field
Crops harvested by hand (rather than a machine) that have strict cosmetic specifications are most likely to have high levels of ‘in-field’ waste – this is because the pickers are trained to only harvest the best crops. Machinery can also lead to waste in-field: for example, small potatoes and onions often fall through the harvesters.
The Packing Stage
At the packing stage, crops are inspected and sorted according to quality and appearance. This inspection is done by people, analogue equipment or digital scanning, and often results in rejected produce.
The Point of Delivery
Supermarkets/buyers inspect produce upon arrival at their warehouse facility. Whole deliveries are sometimes rejected outright if some of the produce does not meet their quality standards.
Other Stages in Supply Chain
There may be several ‘middle men’ between the farm and the supermarket: packing agents, transport, haulage and warehouse firms. Edible waste can occur at any of these stages.
