Richard Melvin hopes there will come a time when the majority of food waste from his farm ends up in the mouths of the people who need it most. Despite being “ideally good to eat,” as much as 40 percent of Melvin’s 36 acres of cauliflower is plowed back into the ground each year, the Nova Scotia farmer estimates. “We waste enough cauliflower on our farm to feed everyone in Nova Scotia or the Maritimes,” he said. Cross country controlIan Hanomansing. Many farmers can’t afford to harvest, pack and transport produce that isn’t bought, Melvin says — especially for vegetables like cauliflower that can spoil in two weeks. “It’s fresh produce, so we’re talking about a pretty short shelf life. We often get into a situation where we’re trying to do something and the market demand isn’t as good as we thought it would be.” According to a 2019 federal government reportan estimated 13 percent of fruits and vegetables grown in Canada are not harvested or discarded. And Melvin says grocery and retail standards are strict about acceptable product size and color. “If it’s a little bit too creamy — people might call it kind of a snow type — people don’t like it,” he said. “If it’s too small, too big, then that’s another area [of concern]”, adding that the ideal size for cauliflower is 13 to 18 cm in diameter. A Feed Nova Scotia worker is shown sorting potatoes. The charity’s executive director Nick Gennery says the organization supports about 40,000 Nova Scotians by providing them with three to five days’ worth of food a month. (Feed Nova Scotia)
The seed of a solution
A new funding stream is needed for growers, Melvin says, to get produce scraps into the food bank system. Feed Nova Scotia is one possible option to achieve this. The registered charity — which serves food banks, shelters and meal programs in the province — is in discussions with Melvin. Executive director Nick Jennery says the organization currently buys produce from farmers on an ad-hoc basis, but hopes to establish a longer-term deal with Melvin, depending on quantity, cost and quality. “We would periodically call him or another farmer to say, ‘Gee, we need more root vegetables for our Christmas program, or more potatoes, because there seems to be a greater need for that,’” Jennery said. “From our perspective, we need a consistent offering.” The executive director of Feed Nova Scotia wants to extend the shelf life of products like cauliflower. Jennery suggests exploring options like turning vegetables into soup and then freezing them. (Creative Studio Heinemann/Shutterstock) Jennery says they also use food transformation strategies, such as making soup out of vegetables like cauliflower and then freezing it, to save costs and extend the product’s shelf life. “Would that end product be cheaper than the cost of buying a canned product? It would certainly be more nutritious. So we’re going through that now.” Jennery says not everyone eats vegetables like cauliflower or knows how to cook them, so it’s important to gauge the need and demand of the communities and programs that Feed Nova Scotia serves. “If we buy or bring in more perishables than we can distribute, then we end up with waste and we have to spend money to get rid of that waste. That’s money that could be used to help people have access to the food they need. they need.” Second Harvest CEO Lori Nikkel says the food rescue charity supported 4.3 million Canadians in 2021 and specializes in third-party logistics across the country. (Hector Habili/Second Harvest) Second Harvest CEO Lori Nikkel isn’t surprised to hear that farms have to get rid of so many food crops. Billed as a food rescue charity, Second Harvest collects surplus food from across the supply chain and redistributes it. According to the organization Annual report 2022Canadians waste 58 percent of their food each year. “No farmer grows food to plow it in later,” Nikkel said. “What we’re finding with the farms is if they can pick it up and put it in big bins, then we’ll take it and we can repackage it or we can change it. “We’re used to working in agriculture to make sure we can move this perishable food as quickly as possible.” A worker disposes of pre-consumer food waste in Langley, BC When asked if Ottawa would consider funding to help farmers save crops that would otherwise go to waste, the federal agriculture minister did not respond to an email. (Ben Nelms/Reuters) Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says the Trudeau government is committed to addressing food waste issues in Canada, citing food rescue and reducing food waste initiatives and policies that have been implemented in recent years. “The Government of Canada will continue to look for opportunities to make food waste reduction a priority, convene stakeholders to bring about meaningful reductions across food systems and encourage innovative solutions,” Bibeau said in a statement sent via email to CBC. Encouraging Canadians to reduce food loss, he noted, can save businesses and consumers money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and expand food availability. Bibeau did not say whether the government would consider special funding for farmers to save some of their crops that would otherwise be lost. However, there is a “silver lining” to what is happening right now with food waste and high food prices, according to Sylvain Charlebois, professor and director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. “More people are really focusing on food waste,” Charlebois said. “In the food chain, companies are careful because they pay more for the ingredients, so they try to recycle some of the ingredients.” As food prices rise, people tend to value food more, he adds, so they are careful about how they manage their inventory — which can affect demand from farms.
