Food Waste: How CSA Can Help Us Understand & Improve the “Big Picture”

By Andrea Yoder

Andrea playing "Cooler Tetris"

I admit, I’ve been a little hesitant to write this article but these thoughts have been rolling around in my head so I’m going to take a chance and share them with you. This is the time of year when I spend a lot of time riding around the packing shed on the forklift which gives me a lot of time to ponder.  Our coolers are full and managing inventories is a daily game of “Cooler Tetris.”  Everything has to be mapped so we can find it and trace it.  Everything that goes into the cooler needs to be put in the appropriate place so it will all fit at the end of each day AND so we can access it when we need it.  When space is at a premium, I have little room to tolerate bins that are only half full and do not have the luxury to store product that doesn’t have a purpose or a home.  And yet, I just can’t seem to let go of those 20 totes of number 2 daikon radish sorted out because of surface defects caused by insects in the soil, but are otherwise wholesome and entirely usable.  And those 25 totes of funny-shaped, oversized parsnips along with the 20-30 plus totes of funny-shaped number 2 carrots…  I can’t let go of those either.  They’re good carrots!  Yes, some have funny shapes, are too big or too small or may have a spot or surface defect that earns them a place in the “number 2” category—just not quite good enough to end up in a bag of our soup Mix or in a CSA box.  Yes, we could let them go to the compost pile and they would have a respectable purpose.  But they’re still edible!  We grew them, we harvested them, and at the very least we, along with our crew, will eat them and/or donate them to the food pantry where they are gifted to people who eat them!  And this leads me to the topic of this article, Food Waste.

Food waste being repurposed as compost

In January of this year, the USDA published an economic Information bulletin entitled “Economic Drivers of Food Loss at the Farm and Pre-Retail Sectors:  A Look at the Produce Supply Chain in the United States.”   In this report the authors cite some statistics I’d like to share with you.  For starters, the USDA “estimates the value of uneaten food at the retail and consumer levels at around $161.6 billion annually.”  This dollar value is from data reported in 2010 and represents about 133 billion pounds or about 31 percent of all food produced in the United States.  The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimated that approximately one-third of total food production worldwide is wasted each year. I don’t know what our current statistics look like, but I would guess they have not changed much over the past 10 years.  The amount of food these numbers represent is shocking to me and these numbers still don’t represent all food losses.

Most studies looking at food waste look at losses occurring at the retail and consumer levels, after the product has been produced and started along the distribution channel.  However the point of this report was to acknowledge that in the produce sector, there is another subset of food waste not represented in these studies.  In the world of fruit and vegetable production, there are on-farm losses that occur for a variety of reasons.  This report explores some of the causes for produce losses on the farm including price volatility, labor constraints, supply chain rigidities, and standards and consumer preferences. The bottom line though is that producers are making decisions every day as to whether or not a crop will ever leave the field or the farm.  These decisions are based on a variety of considerations including quality factors caused by weather, insects, plant disease, sizing, etc as well as available labor to harvest product, supply and demand, viable markets and the potential profitability of harvesting a crop versus leaving it in the field.  If you’re interested in gaining more insight about these factors, you can access this full report at:  https://endhunger.org/docs_waste/USDA-Jan2020.pdf.

Red radishes donated to Community Hunger Solutions,
photo from Community Hunger Solutions Facebook page

While this USDA report focuses on the economic factors and impacts related to food loss, specifically on the farm and at the pre-retail level, a discussion about food waste goes even deeper and extends to other facets of our current reality.  As a society, we have a responsibility to ensure all people have access to food.  I would go even further to add that all food is not created equally and all people have a right to wholesome, nutritious food that will benefit their health.  Food insecurity is a big issue in this country and we still have food deserts where there is limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables in particular.  In 2019 we donated about 16,000 pounds of fresh produce representing about $30,000 to Community Hunger Solutions, an organization in Viroqua, WI that distributes food to food pantries in our local area.  Sadly, the need for food assistance in our area alone has risen in 2020 due to the impact the pandemic has had on some household’s ability to afford food.  I suspect the same is true in many communities across our country.  As a food producer, it’s hard not to respond to this need when we have the food, a basic human necessity, that other people need.  So, despite the fact that the cost to our farm exceeds the value of the food alone, we continue to willingly contribute labor and other resources to serve our community in this way simply because we feel it is the right thing to do.  To waste this food would be irresponsible.

Once a beautiful field of melons, 2007 Flood 

We also need to acknowledge that food waste has an impact on our environment and, vice versa, the environmental conditions often have a direct impact on the cause of food loss on the farm.  This is the point in the conversation where we have no choice but to acknowledge the link to climate change.  Producing food that will not be consumed is directly linked to consumption of resources required to produce the food, eg land, water, energy, and other inputs.  Thus in addition to the economic loss of wasted food, we’re also contributing to unnecessary CO2 emissions and loss of resources.  On the flip side, the more erratic weather patterns we are experiencing as a result of climate change are many times the cause for food loss on the farm.  I hate to use the “F” word, but we’ve had our fair share of flooding over the past 10 plus years that has resulted in significant crop losses exceeding $250,000 or more and literally tons of produce in some years.  Some of you may remember several years ago when we lost our entire crop of sweet potatoes.  That was a very sad year, especially given the fact that the crop was ready to harvest in less than a week from the time the flood event occurred.  We went through every step of the production process, including cleaning up the field and the only yield we got off the field that year was 10-15# of sweet potatoes Richard dug by hand to see how close they were to harvest before the flood occurred.

"Funny" tomato repurposed as a pen
holder on Kelly's desk!

Another factor that contributes to food loss is industry standards and consumer expectations.  When I was in college I remember sitting in a food service class where we had to learn about the industry specifications for produce.  Yes, I was tested on my knowledge about the standards for how long an acceptable cucumber can be, what size of a tomato is acceptable and how many of these acceptable tomatoes fit in a standard wholesale case.  As a society of consumers, we’ve been trained at the retail level to expect a standard appearance of produce.  We expect the apples will all be of a similar size, otherwise how can the people stocking the produce at the store build those attractive displays?  We’ve been trained to expect a certain size of sweet potatoes that are shaped just so and potatoes that are a certain size.  Vary from these industry standards and the product now becomes labeled as “number 2,” “imperfect,” or “ugly.”  Basically, the value of the produce drops and it is considered to be of lesser quality simply based on its appearance assuming all other indicators of wholesomeness remain intact.  These labels of “imperfect” and “ugly” do not settle well with me.  We prefer to use “unique,” “funny,” and “real.”

Rejected peppers left in field

The reality of producing fruits and vegetables is that it is a risky business with a lot of vulnerabilities to factors that can impact the end product in sometimes negative ways.  We wake up every day with the intention to produce the highest quality, nutrient dense and attractive produce we can produce.  We are experienced growers with a professional, skillful crew.  Yet, despite our best efforts, there are times when our crops do not turn out the way we intended.  Sweet potatoes are sometimes too big and sometimes too small.  Sometimes they grow straight and other times, for reasons unknown to me, they grow in long, skinny, curvy shapes.  Soil may become compacted due to excessive rain which may impact a carrot’s ability to grow long and straight.  Instead, it may continue to grow around the point of compaction causing it to be funny-shaped.  Several peppers may set on the plant in a similar location and compete for space to grow.  Thus, bell peppers may not always have the perfect blocky appearance, yet they are still entirely edible and wholesome.  I’m not trying to make excuses for produce that is considered by some to be less than perfect.  The point I’m trying to make is that the imperfections in this produce represent the realities of nature we sometimes deal with.  Any given crop seldom yields 90-100% “perfect” produce.  Growers often choose to leave a large portion of their crop in the field simply because it doesn’t meet the industry standards for aesthetics and, if sent to a buyer, it could be rejected.  We’ve experienced this before.  We’ve had entire pallets of produce rejected, which means we lose the produce, the packaging, the time we invested to grow, harvest, pack and deliver the product, the money we invested to transport it, and we don’t get a paycheck.  It’s a painful reality and there are times we choose to abandon a crop in the field and forego a sale because the risk of a potential rejection and loss is more than we want to gamble on.

Sweet Corn setting on tassels

So where are we going with this conversation?  Good question and I’m not sure I entirely know the answer.  Figuring out ways to decrease food loss, increase efficiencies in our systems for food production, decrease negative impacts on our environment and figure out ways to have a net positive impact on climate change efforts while contributing to reversing food insecurity in our community are pretty weighty responsibilities.  As I’ve been pondering all of these things as of recent, I had one thought that helped me be ok with all of this even though I don’t have solutions to all these issues.  I keep coming back to the fact that CSA is such an important model in contributing to a more sustainable food system with all these factors in mind.  Why?  Because CSA is a two-way street.  You support us so we have the resources and financial viability to produce food.  We support you by providing you with sustenance.  Within this system we have something that doesn’t exist in other retail models for food distribution and purchasing.  We have conversation, communication and connection.  Every week when I write the “What’s In the Box” or Vegetable Feature articles for the newsletter I think about what I want or need to communicate with you about the vegetables in your box and/or what’s happening on the farm.  Sometimes harvest conditions are not ideal and may impact the shelf life or appearance of a product.  If that’s the case, I can tell you “Hey, we had to harvest the strawberries in the rain this week.  They may have a much shorter shelf life as a result so eat them soon after receiving.”  If my only option were to sell those strawberries to a retail store, I may choose to forego harvest.  If I shipped the same pint of strawberries to a retail store, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to tell the consumer about harvest conditions and the impact they may have on the shelf life.  In fact, those strawberries may be decayed and moldy before they even get to the retail shelf and the buyer will likely be asking for credit!  I also have the opportunity to communicate scenarios like we had earlier this year with sweet corn when our final crop of the season was impacted by the corn earworm.  We were faced with the choice of harvesting and delivering corn that we knew had worms in the tip of the ear or abandoning the entire crop.  We chose to communicate with you and deliver the corn.  We were apprehensive to do so because we didn’t know how this decision would be received.  In retrospect, we are so glad we did because the response we got from those of you who emailed us was 100% supportive of our decision.  You made it very clear that you wanted the corn and could deal with a little worm in exchange for being able to enjoy the 90 plus percent of the ear that was unaffected and delicious!  Thank you for supporting us on this decision!

CSA also offers us flexibility that doesn’t exist in other outlets we grow for, namely wholesale markets but also farmers’ market.  If there is a problem with a crop, albeit low yield, quality issues, negative impacts from weather, etc, we don’t lose the sale with CSA.  We have the flexibility to forego harvest of one item, but we’ll fill that space in the box with another item that is available.  That flexibility does not exist in the wholesale world.  If we don’t have the product they want, we simply lose the sale.  This flexibility helps us manage production at the farm level, but it also benefits you and protects you from feeling the impact of crop losses.  Your willingness to be flexible and work with the items we pack in your box each week is an important part of the CSA model.  It’s also one of the reasons we do not pack customizable shares, which are often in direct conflict with this flexibility factor.  Again, it’s a two-way street where we both have to be willing to work with each other, yield to Mother Nature and hopefully achieve the end result of less food left in the fields and more food on your plates.

Cover Crop planted in field to help mitigate climate change on our farm

The bottom line is we all have a role to play in decreasing food waste and losses.  There will always be some crop losses on our farm, we realize that.  We will always strive to produce and deliver the highest quality produce.  We hope you realize the sincerity of that statement.  But when things aren’t perfect, I hope we can continue to engage in conversation and use communication as our basis for understanding the realities of food production so we can continue to maximize our harvests, decrease food loss, contribute to the economic viability and sustainability of our farm, decrease negative impacts on climate change and continue to invest in efforts to mitigate climate change on our farm.  All this while still continuing to deliver food to your tables that will nourish and feed you, and your families, so you can then go out into the world and contribute in positive ways.  It all comes back to the fact that we’re all connected and we truly do need to function as a community.  A community that communicates and strives to understand and improve “The Big Picture.”