The Tolerated Waste? Farm level food waste and losses - perception, challenges & solutions from an organic fruit and vegetable farming perspective

Summary in the original language of the document

The reduction of food waste and losses is crucial for a more sustainable agriculture. This is also demanded politically: With view to the sustainable development goals, EU Member states are asked to do their share for reaching a 50 percent food waste reduction until 2030. The reduction of farm-level food waste/losses represents one possible lever in this regard, with fruit and vegetable production promising a special potential with view to high losses.
While the organic sector aims at producing more ecologically and ethically, organic farmers don´t seem to perform better than their conventional colleagues. Before this background, this qualitative study takes a first look into the view of producers. It, thus, asks: The tolerated waste? How does the organic fruit and vegetable farming sector in Germany look at existing farm-level food waste/losses?
With this aim, an online focus group discussion with ten organic German fruit and vegetable farmers was organized. Participants hold leading positions of organic farms covering a broad range regarding size and marketing channels. The data was complemented through face-to-face interviews with three consultants from the organic sector.
As a first specific research question, perceptions on food waste/losses were investigated, showing two main lines of argumentation. One line is represented by rather smaller farms with direct marketing options where perceived relevance of food waste/losses is lower, but also by consultants. Here, the necessity for quality and safety standards is stressed and the view that a certain amount of food waste/losses is not problematic when considering nutrient circles/soil fertility. A second perception rather concerns bigger farmer that stress the high perceived relevance and one consultant. In this regard, actors stressed resource waste, natural conditions in agriculture and lost sales.
As a second specific research question, market-related challenges were analysed. Next to general challenges such as legal norms or standards of final consumers, challenges with view to private trade companies emerged as the main reason for food waste/losses. In this context, strict private
trade standards appear as the principal issue alongside power imbalances and insufficient coordination of supply and demand. The results also show that farmers´ negotiation possibilities with organic and conventional customers appear limited, while an openness for conversation seems to exist on higher management levels.
As a third specific research objective, solutions for reducing organic fruit and vegetable waste/losses at farm-level were evaluated. In this sense, different approaches are already applied in the sector from alternative marketing channels to donations and processing. Nevertheless, farmers also apply strategies that are legally considered waste without considering them as such.The support of processing structure, but also more systemic solutions like softening of standards or better coordination between supply and demand alongside consumer education appears needed.
As can be seen from results, the alignment between organic and conventional is not only taking place in terms of consumers, but also in terms of trade structures with corresponding challenges for farmers.