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BY STAN BLADE,
P.Ag.
FROM LAB
TO FIELD
Foodwasteunappetizing
THIS ISSUE OF
GRAINSWEST
arrives at harvest time. In my experience
growing up on a mixed farm in north-
central Alberta, it was practically a sin to
spill grain. But if you were on Twitter this
last year, it was amazing to see farmers
from around the world own up to such
messy mistakes—have a look by searching
for the hashtags #harvest16 and #oops!
This column is dedicated to post-harvest
losses. In an era when global food security
is a headline-grabbing topic, the idea of
loss or waste anywhere in the food chain
is a hot topic. The numbers are shocking:
the World Food Programme of the United
Nations estimates that one-third of all
food produced for human consumption
is lost or wasted. That represents over 1.3
billion tons of food. Food losses refer to
either a decrease in the amount of food or
a reduction in nutritional value (quality)
of food. Food waste specifically refers to
food that is available to be consumed but
is somehow lost from the system.
In developing countries, up to 40 per
cent of the cereal and pulse crop losses oc-
cur in the early stages following harvest.
Vegetables and fruits present even greater
issues of spoilage and damage due to the
nature of those products. Smallholder
farmers limited to hand harvesting, open-
air drying, hand or animal threshing and
traditional storage methods leave their
grains, fruits and vegetables susceptible
to contamination and/or loss by rodents,
birds, micro-organisms and insects.
All of these practices occur in envi-
ronments that present major challenges.
High temperatures significantly reduce
the storage time and the quality of many
farm products. Humidity can create
issues for the quality of harvested crops.
Urbanization in developing nations means
that food moves into large cities over poor
roads. Transportation in bags or other
open containers also leads to losses.
These challenges are not just economic
issues. In Kenya, there have been three
major mycotoxin events where aflatoxin
(a toxic fungus that grows on maize grain
under humid conditions) in maize prod-
ucts has led to fatalities. In May 2004, 125
Kenyans died from aflatoxin poisoning.
Post-harvest losses are not limited to the
developing world, though estimates of on-
farm, post-harvest losses are less than five
per cent. We should be rightfully proud of
our remarkable harvest success. Howev-
er, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
(USDA) most recent estimate indicates
that 31 per cent of all food in the United
States is lost. The USDA Economic Re-
search Service estimates that represents a
monetary loss of US$161 billion each year.
So what is happening? It will not come as
a surprise that the issue is food waste.
In Canada, it was reported by Value
Chain Management International that our
food losses were valued at $31 billion in
2014. The same study ranked all sources
of waste and identified that 51 per cent of
the waste occurs in our homes. Consum-
ers want only fruits and vegetables that
look good and have no blemishes, leading
them to discard large amounts of produce.
Food stores dump “out-of-date” items
based on regulated calendar protocols
rather than assessment of food risk. Cana-
dians spending only nine per cent of their
disposable income on food find it more
convenient to over-buy than risk running
short. Grocery stores sell products in vol-
umes that lead to portions of these prod-
ucts remaining unused. And the George
Morris Centre reported that eight per cent
of Canada’s food waste occurs in restau-
rants as leftovers from over-large portions
as well as food handling issues.
Wasting land, labour, water and energy
through food loss is a very bad thing.
Many of our institutions are working
on a range of technologies to extend the
shelf life and maintain the nutritional
value of food products. Several grassroots
programs are occurring across Africa,
Latin America and South Asia to improve
post-harvest management of crops. France
has enacted legislation to ensure that gro-
cery stores must work with food charities
to eliminate waste. And collaboration
within the food system is happening in
many places across Canada.
Please be careful during this harvest
season. Western Canadian farmers are do-
ing a great deal to minimize post-harvest
losses; it is one more demonstration of
the superb stewardship of our resources.
Reducing post-harvest losses has a double
payoff: it makes money for producers
and is good for society. Shatter-resistant
cultivars, harvest timing, improvements
to on-farm grain handling and storage—
all of these investments are part of the
solution. We as citizens are doing a lot of
things right, but we need to continue to
challenge ourselves to do even better.
Stan Blade, PhD, is dean of the Faculty of
Agricultural, Life and Environmental
Sciences at the University of Alberta.
WORKING TOMINIMIZE LOSSES FROMFIELD TOTABLE
Fall
2017
Grains
West
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