In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

PREVENTING FOOD LOSS WITH A NATIONAL CENTER

In Business, July-August, 2006, Vol. 28, No. 4, p. 29

Food loss poses a threat to national security, but a national center would build capacity, energy sustainability and improve our environment.

Timothy W. Jones

MY EARLY Oklahoma childhood memories are filled with lessons on how to dig roots, pick fruits and greens, while teaching me a way of life. Sustaining this knowledge for thousands of years has served many purposes for my people, the Western Cherokee. The ability to survive has been one of the most significant benefits. No matter what has happened to our people, we have always been able to use this knowledge to exist until another day.
Today, Americans are losing their cultural knowledge, especially as it pertains to food. I argue that the country needs to have a center to address food and systemic food loss as a public policy issue.
Once the chief occupation of Americans, agriculture is now the domain of less than two percent of the population. Just a few major natural or human made shocks to key points in our food system could have catastrophic results. Americans would do well to heed the lessons of the Western Cherokee.
MANAGING FOOD LOSS
Nearly half of the food ready to harvest never reaches our mouths. Food loss begins on the farm and continues through processing, retail, home kitchens and ends in the landfill. The reasons for food loss are many.
Food loss poses a threat to national security. If our fresh food supplies were harmed, a food loss reduction program could extend the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables by a month or more while new sources are developed. Currently no workable plan exists.
Food loss is eating away at our food growing capacity, energy sustainability and our environment. It took fertilizer, water, soil nutrients, pesticides, herbicides, diesel and gasoline to produce that food. Then there is the electricity and fuel required to run the storage warehouses and to transport the food to retailers. Retailers consume huge amounts of energy to sustain frozen and cold storage to preserve the precious crops.
We are already suffering from the loss of food knowledge in our culture. Food loss and other food issues such as obesity arise from the fact that Americans, even those in the food industry, have lost touch with food, what it is, how it functions in sustaining life and its role in the “cycle of life”. People who acculturate the “cycle of life” have fewer food issues. Economically, food issues are taking their toll costing the American economy well over $200 billion annually.
NATIONAL FOOD CENTER
A national Food Center would assess the multitude of issues and coordinate efforts among producers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, consumers, government agencies and trade groups. An early childhood education program could serve as the core program. An informed population can understand and enact nutrition, food safety, food conservation and related programs. The outcome would benefit all of society.
The agricultural division would work with farmers, processors and agribusiness associations on developing predictable demand and harvest data, reducing harvest losses and improving storage. An academic division would gather information from the scientific community and assist other scientists in developing additional studies and strategies, as well as provide information to corporations, government, agriculture and the public.
Other specialists could advise processors, distributors and retailers about ways to reduce losses, a major drain on the profit margins of many businesses. They would aid the government in developing plans and programs to assure the security of the country's food system.
Even with all of these efforts food loss will still occur. A food loss recovery division would implement policies and programs to gain the best use of these losses. The division would promote food recovery, composting and organics to energy projects.
A Food Center will strive for a coalition of all forces who have an interest in food. And out of this coalition, we will be able to reduce many of the country's food issues. The changes would positively impact us all. It is truly a “win, win” situation for all Americans.

Dr. Timothy Jones is an adjunct professor at the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, University of Arizona in Tucson. He can be contacted by email at twj@email.arizona.edu.