Ragin Roldan
English 1001
Dr. Murdock
01/30/2014
The First Research Project
Every year across the world approximately 3 million children die from starvation or lack of
basic nutrition (Global Hunger). All these deaths are entirely preventable because the world is capable
of producing to enough food to support its current population. In fact, enough food is produced every
year to feed and additional “Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human
consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tons — gets lost or wasted.” (Global Food Losses
and Food Waste) Food waste is to blame for why so many people die every year from starvation and
lack of nutrition. So what is food waste? Food waste is the poor use of food resources. There are many
ways in which food waste can and does occur. Subsidizing food is one example of food waste. When
the government subsidized junk food ingredients it promotes obesity. Subsidizing ingredients that
create junk food are causing the obesity rate to rise in the U.S which is a cause towards food waste. We
waste billions of dollars on subsidizing certain crops that are main ingredients to junk foods and expect
people to not buy into those cheaper unhealthy foods. While obesity being a food waste in itself in the
U.S there are other countries that have people struggling for their next meal. Often farmers don't plant
or sell as much food as they can because of distributions issues which limit their ability to get their
product to customers. Uneducated farmers like many that exist in third world countries don't know how
to properly grow food or are poorly equipped to do so preventing them from achieving their maxim
yield. Food waste can also occur when there is a disparity between the cost of food products and what
customers can pay. Farmers can't make a living off their crops because people can't afford to pay the
price of their food. Another cause of food waste is the emphasis placed on raising animals for protein
instead of using alternatives such as vegetables that can supply the same kind of protein. If the problem
isn't with the distribution it's with the food product itself. We spend more money grain feeding steer
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from birth to the point where they're ready for slaughter than the nutrients we get back in comparison
with vegetables. We could make our world have a sustainable food system if we put even just a little bit
of our efforts into lessening our home food wastes, the government assisting by subsidizing vegetables,
better equip farmers and inform them of how to grow their crop properly, eat healthier, and work on our
distribution processes. Food waste is a complex issue with various contributing factors but none are
without a possible solution.
I will use Australia as an example of food waste in households but even this example doesn’t
hold the world accountable for household food waste. “In Australia we waste up to 30 per cent of the
food we purchase. That's a great waste of money, and it also has a negative impact on the environment.
In NSW alone, the average household wastes up to 315 kilograms of food a year, at a cost of just over
$1,000” (Minimise Food Waste). If in Australia 30% of food is wasted just calculate those numbers
throughout the world and see what numbers you get. Food waste percentages are higher in other
Continents such as Europe and United States. Why do we waste so much food? Some don’t realize
they’re wasting that much and others don’t care. There are several reasons for why people waste so
much food in their households but none without a possible solution with participation of consumers
everywhere. “Every time we throw food into the bin we're also discarding the vast amounts of
resources, energy and water that it took to produce, process, store, refrigerate, transport and cook our
food. So it makes perfect sense to become waste-wise in the kitchen and rethink the way we shop”
(Minimise Food Waste). One thing you can do is begin to shop smarter. If you can create a shopping
list for a week worth of food and make sure you purchase only the foods that are essential that you’ll
actually eat then you won’t have the problem of throwing away food for not eating it or food rotting.
You can also store food properly so that it can last longer in your refrigerator and at the same time you
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Dr. Murdock
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prevent food cross contamination. You should also focus on cooking good size portions of food that
you’ll finish eating in that meal. If you over cook then you’ll have leftovers that you may not eat or
you’ll just end up throwing that food away. If you do have leftovers you should make sure that you
utilize them with another meal or make sure you consume them in the next day or two. Food waste
prevention in our households is one way to tackle this problem of food waste but there are many other
causes of food waste in our world. “The average American consumer wastes 10 times as much food as
someone in Southeast Asia. Up 50 percent from Americans in the 1970s. This means there was once a
time when we wasted far less, and we can get back there again” (Gunders, Dana). One of the reasons
Americans waste so much food is because we’ve become such picky eaters. We should rethink how we
eat. A vegetable that doesn’t food as appealing as a Big Mac from McDonalds but is a lot healthier.
People will eat their Big Macs while the fruit and vegetables are left to rot in grocery stores. At the
same time there’s an issue of if the food looks appealing to harvest or not. We expect excellence in our
food. Otherwise we won’t buy or eat it. This mindset in our culture has to change because we are
wasting food in vast amounts because of it. “Food saved by reducing losses by just 15 percent could
feed more than 25 million Americans every year” (Gunders, Dana). Just by reducing our food waste by
a small fraction we can use that to feed the ones who cannot afford it. Think about how much food we
could save by cutting down 40%? We could feed everyone in America and still have a lot of food to
give to countries like Africa where many people are starving. If we can make this effort with little
sacrifice then why not do it? We as Americans have to think smarter about what we buy and how we
eat because as you can see; It does have an enormous impact in the world.
“The AAA implemented some ideas that became staples of agriculture subsidy programs to the
present day, including provisions allowing the government to control production by paying farmers to
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Dr. Murdock
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reduce the number of acres in cultivation; purchase surplus products; regulate the marketing of certain
crops; guarantee minimum payments to farmers for some products; and make loans to farmers using
only their unharvested crops as collateral” (The Free Dictionary). Key crops that subsidized farming as
effected are corn, soybeans, cotton, wheat, rice. “More than $19 billion of tax payer money subsidized
four common food additives: corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, cornstarch, and soy oil” (Athena,
Jones). Corn is $4.40 per bushel and soy beans are $12.50 on average per bushel. We are subsidizing
these crops that are commonly found in junk food that cause people to become obese. Obese people eat
in excess and consume more resources which decreases supply. Obesity is also one of the leading
causes of type 2 diabetes and while, “not everyone with type 2 diabetes is overweight, obesity and lack
of physical activity are two of the most common causes of this form of diabetes” (Diabetes Health
Center). According to the National Diabetes Statistics of 2011 there are 25.8 million people that are
affected by diabetes. According to Pathirage Kamal Perera and Yunman Li, certain fruits and vegetables
have been proven to cure type 2 diabetes (Perera and Li). For the 25.8 million people that are affected
by diabetes they are consuming the limited supply of fruits and vegetables that we do grow to cure their
overeating problems. Problems which stem from eating cheap junk food which are made from
ingredients of subsidized crops and leaving less of the nutritious foods to go around.
Why not subsidize fruits and vegetables? We should be subsidizing fruits and vegetables so that
we have an abundance of them so that they would become cheaper. If vegetables were to become
cheaper and junk food were to become more expensive then people would buy more vegetables
because that's what would be more affordable to them. Vegetables are more nutritious and are a better
way towards keeping people around the world healthier and well fed. More nutrition means have to eat
less to get what you need. One major problem in America is that we subsidize the wrong crop. Instead
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Dr. Murdock
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of subsidizing fruits and vegetables we subsidize crops such as corn and soybeans which are main
ingredients to junk food. On top of that only a small percentage of farmers get paid millions while other
farmers get paid barely anything so if the poor farmers wanted to sell fruits and vegetables they
wouldn’t be able to because they wouldn’t be able to afford it. Farmers all around should get paid the
same amount depending on how much they grow so that all farmers have an equal chance and
surviving and assisting our economy with healthier food. Another solution could be if we cut down our
subsidy budget for corn in half and use that towards fruits and vegetables. If we were to do that we
would then have more than enough healthy food to go around and the price in vegetables to drastically
drop in grocery stores. We have to chance the average American mindset from thinking it’s acceptable
to eat unhealthy foods just because they’re convenient and taste better to the mentality of “I need to eat
for my body so that I can live longer and live better”. If people ate less junk food and more fruits and
vegetables then the market for fruits and vegetables would go up. Our government would then begin to
subsidize fruits and vegetables, we would get more nutrients from eating less fatty foods and we would
have plenty more food to go around for the millions of people starving in the world.
Another cause of food waste is farmers are unable to distribute their crop to markets. This issue
primarily effects third world countries with poor infrastructure. “The Institution of Mechanical
Engineers found that 1.2 billion to two billion of the four billion metric tons of food produced globally
goes uneaten because of inadequate infrastructure as well as irresponsible retailer and consumer
behavior.” Typically in third world countries the country consists of mostly rural communities and
roads connecting them either don't exist or are poorly maintained. “In our current system of food
distribution, the number of markets and ways to access those markets is inadequate. About 16% of the
rural populations in developing countries lack convenient access to a market, which typically causes
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Dr. Murdock
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farmers not to sell their crops. In fact, it is estimated that at most 40% of the any crop is marketed and
only one-third of farmers sell to markets” (World Hunger Series). As a result, it’s difficult for farmers
to get their product to the market for purchase and much of their crop goes to waste. It is also difficult
for consumers to get to the market to purchase the food farmers grow. Even if there were better routes
for transportation there is an issue of moving the product on them. Many farmer don't have large trucks
to move their crops. A possible solution, “to increase both farmers’ and consumers’ access to markets,
we developed the concept of Mobile Markets, a market on a locomotive that will travel between
various rural areas and cities” (Mission 2014: Feeding the World). These mobile markets are a solution
but you still have problems because of the people that can't afford their crop as well as the government
in itself being a problem “because of the heavier budget constraints on developing countries, they fail
to alleviate this production burden. Therefore, even with a large production of food, rampant hunger
still exists because of the inability to purchase it” (Mission 2014: Feeding the World). The people in
these third world countries that go to the markets that cannot afford the food are the people who need it
the most.
There also aren't well established markets for farmers to sell their products at. “Lack of access
to markets is a problem for many small-scale enterprises in Africa. The rural population is poorly
organized and often isolated, beyond the reach of social safety nets and poverty programs. Increasingly,
government policies and investments in poverty reduction tend to favor urban over rural areas” (IFAD).
Miscommunication among farmers in rural areas in other countries is a huge problem. Sometimes a
situation will arise where many farmers tend to grow the same thing unaware of what the other is
growing. That leads to many farmers growing too much of the same crop and making no business
which then leads to them not being able to grow more crops. This also causes farmers that are late to
the market with their crop to make less because the farmers that arrived there first were able to already
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Dr. Murdock
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sell off those same foods. If you already bought a week worth of corn and five other farmers were to
show up with more corn then you won’t be interest in anymore corn no matter how cheap they may
offer it. There were mobile markets created with the purpose of going from farmer to farmer buying
their crop and selling it to consumers all around their country. This greatly assists the distribution factor
with farmers because now many of them don’t have to travel to far away markets where they end up
losing a large percentage of their crop in the transportation process. The implementation of mobile
markets was a great way to assist in the distribution of crop around rural areas in third world countries
around the world. With mobile markets, farmers will have a reason to grow more crops now. This will
further assist third world countries in their crop distribution and can furthermore help towards food
sustainability in those countries.
In many third world countries where food is both wasted and needed the most there is an
abundance of uneducated farmers. These farmers don't know how to properly grow food or are poorly
equipped to do so preventing them from achieving their maxim yield. For example, Monocropping,
fallowing, and knowing which types of plants grow in the environment. “It is safe to assert that the
information needs of Nigerian small scale farmers revolve around the resolution of problems such as
pest hazards, weed control, moisture insufficiency, soil fertility, farm credit, labor shortage, soil erosion
and so forth. The information needs may be grouped into five headings: agricultural inputs; extension
education; agricultural technology; agricultural credit; and marketing. Modern farm inputs are needed
to raise small farm productivity. These inputs may include fertilizers, improved variety of seeds and
seedlings, feeds, plant protection chemicals, agricultural machinery, and equipment and water”(Vincent
Nnamdi Ozowa). These farmers are lacking in every aspect possible for supplying their countries
properly with food thus we are losing out on potential crops. Even with something as simple as having
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enough food storage units would solve some issues. If farmers had more storage units then they'd grow
more crops with confidence knowing they won't be losing half their crops because they'll be able to
store it properly. Farmers in places such as Africa also need to be informed of monocropping and
fallowing. Farmers aren’t informed of the disadvantages of monocropping. They should know that
when you plant the same crop season after season your crops begin to take all the nutrients provided by
the soil and you begin to grow crops with less nutrients. This process of growing crop is a food waste
in itself because you’re growing crops with less than normal nutrients. We should be notifying farmers
that they should practice fallowing. Fallowing is basically when you harvest your crop then don’t grow
it the next season so you can give your soil a chance to recoup the nutrients used to grow the last batch
of crop. These two tips are extremely advantageous to rural areas where farmers are misinformed.
These are only two tips among many others that they can be enlightened with. These farmers just need
to be informed so that they can provide their countries with the correct type of nutritious food. If these
farmers in rural areas had a liaison that coordinated with other farmers then that would help too. The
liaison would provide them with information such as the kinds of crops other farmers are growing in
the closest cities so that they know what crop is needed and what they should grow to feed the people
and make money. This could help farmers better control their sales so that they are creating a demand
for the crop that they grow because are the only ones who have it. It’s about supply and demand and if
farmers control the supply to a limited amount of certain crop to go around then they can make more
money to grow more crop in the future.
Another cause of food waste is the emphasis place on raising live stock for purely for protein.
Vegetables are more nutritious and are a better way towards keeping people around the world healthier
and well fed. If we can plant more vegetables that are more nutritious instead of raising cows for meat
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Dr. Murdock
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that is lacking in nutrients then we can eat what we need and have lots left over for millions of people
in this hungry world. “A steer, you see, must eat 21 pounds of grain protein in order to produce one
pound of beef protein . . . so 20 pounds of the valuable nutrient is lost in the process.” (Helen Molitor).
Not only that but we give them a constant supply of water and they take up a certain amount of land.
Steer drink an average of about 1540 gallons of water a year according to Daniel Ward and Kevin
McKague. In order to raise these steer we overexert our grain supply, use a tremendous amount of our
water supply, and what we get in return in nutrients is less than the hard product and efforts we put in.
“Carnivorous diets add extra pressure as it takes 20-50 times the amount of water to produce 1
kilogram of meat than 1kg of vegetables” (Rebecca Smithers). According to the USDA we get an
average of 632 pounds of beef per steer after butchered. USDA also says that we get 90.72g of protein
per pound and 912 calories per pound of beef. That means that there are 57,335.04g of protein. Just
from one vegetable such as broccoli we could get more nutrients and protein than beef. According to an
agriculture study done by the UK Coorporative Extension Service you can plant 11,000 broccoli per
acre and that broccoli can be planted twice a year. As a result, it is possible to grow 22,000 broccoli per
acre per year. According to the USDA there are 3g of protein and 31 calories in a serving of broccoli
which is one cup of broccoli. That means that 66,000g of protein can be obtained from acre of broccoli
per year. Broccoli is a vegetable that is very small in protein but in comparison to beef a difference can
be seen. Just one vegetable can be more beneficial than raising steer for slaughter. The number of
broccoli grown is also drastically higher in quantity than the pounds of meat from a steer. That means
that if we grow vegetables at this rate then we could have so many more vegetables to go around and
contribute to feeding people around the world who can’t afford it. According to Parija Kavilanz the
average retail price of beef per pound is up to $3.87. According to the USDA broccoli is as $2.09 per
bunch. If we were to subsidize these healthy vegetables then they would cost extremely less and people
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could buy more of them. This would lead us to solving food waste and starvation.
Food waste is a huge complex issue that results in millions of people dying or being
malnourished every year and it’s entirely preventable. There are many contributing factors to food
waste such as subsidized foods, poor food distribution, uneducated farmers, under equipped farmers,
poverty, household food wastes, over eating, and a bias towards raising livestock for protein are some
of the main contributors. We shouldn't support subsidies that are ingredients for junk foods. We should
create and support subsidies that grow crops that are good for our bodies. Fruits and vegetable
subsidies would allow for a healthier country. You would see people having to eat less to get more
nutrients and we would have plenty to share with the world afterwards. At the same time we should be
making it better to grow those certain crops for all farmers and not just a certain percentage of them.
We should be subsidizing fruits and vegetables because of the nutrients that they give us. It's a lot more
costly and inefficient to mass breed steer. When you compare beef and vegetables you'll see that
vegetables win every time. Instead of wasting the time, money, and hard product on raising steer we
should be utilizing our efforts into vegetables so we can feed more people around the world. The fact
that we can make more nutritious vegetables with less resources should say something in itself.
Farmers around the world need to be better informed and more equipped so that they grow better crop
and more crop to support the people of their countries. If these farmers learn how to fallow correctly
they can provide more nutritious crop for the starving people of their countries. Implementation of
mobile markets in Africa have made a drastic change in their farmers’ distribution process and it helps
all of the consumers and famers. These could be huge steps towards accomplishing food sustainability
around the world.
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English 1001
Dr. Murdock
01/30/2014
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English 1001
Dr. Murdock
01/30/2014