People in the United States throw out about 133 billion pounds of uneaten food each year, which is something the United States Department of Agriculture and Environmental Project Agency want to stem. The offices announced last week the nation’s first ever food waste reduction goal of 50 percent by 2030, cutting food waste to 66.5 billion pounds a year.
The Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Jay Hall said the commonwealth is already working to reduce food waste with a 2013 statute that gives tax credits to farmers who donate food to nonprofit food programs.
“All farmers want their produce to be consumed. That’s what they’re here for is to feed the world. So the more unspoiled produce that they can get to market and either sold or in the hands of people who need it, the better job that they’re doing as a farmer,” Hall said.
Hall said the department of agriculture is open to all ideas and avenues to help meet the federal food waste reduction goal going into the legislature’s 2016 budget session.
“The population of Kentucky and the world is growing every day, and we are losing farmland everyday. So we’re feeding more people with less land. So it’s important that the food that we grow on that land is consumed,” Hall said.
Hall said there is an unavoidable and constant amount of food that spoils during shipping. He says the most effective way to address food waste is by educating consumers on portion sizes and food spoilage.
