Making the most of the food we grow

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/10/2024 (363 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I recently heard a comparison that if carbon emissions from global food loss and waste were represented as a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gas on the planet — just behind China and the United States.

It’s not a new statistic by any means, having been touted by the UN Environment Program for a while now, but it was new to my ears in the context of food insecurity.

I’d been having a conversation about the growing number of people in our province who are dependent upon food banks when this comparison was made. The incongruence gave me pause to consider all the ways I’m contributing to a global crisis of climate change through food waste and loss while others are struggling to put a meal on the table.

The problem of overproducing and wasting food has been increasingly getting worse in Canada.

As discarded food begins breaking down, it produces methane, a potent gas with 80 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Whether this food loss occurs from overproduction in fields or farms or manufacturing floors, or waste occurring at the kitchen table, it all adds up to roughly 11 million tonnes of edible food ending up in Canadian landfills each year.

According to Second Harvest, Canda’s largest food rescue organization based out of Ontario, roughly 58 per cent of all food produced in the country ends up being lost or wasted while 5.6 million people experience food insecurity. (For clarity, loss occurs during production and manufacturing, and waste at the retail and household level.)

It’s a huge problem and one that deserves serious consideration.

Here in Winnipeg, to help reduce carbon emissions at Brady Road Landfill, methane gas is flared, a process that started in 2013. Now the city is on the cusp of reducing even more emissions by capturing and selling the methane as a renewable energy source.

This helps, for sure, but doesn’t tackle the real issue of eliminating methane production from occurring in the first place through the reduction of food waste and loss.

To that end, the city has launched a new food waste diversion program in conjunction with Compost Winnipeg that will open 15 food waste depots across the city on Oct. 15.

For a cash-strapped city with at least five years to go before phasing in a curb-side composting program, this is an economical way to begin getting at a solution for approximately $160,000 per year.

The problem, as pointed out by Coun. Evan Duncan, is that it needs buy-in from residents who are willing to collect and store food waste from their homes and then take it to one of the depots. According to preliminary figures from an earlier composting pilot, the city is anticipating only a 35 per cent participation rate at the outset.

Yet even so, as worthwhile a project of methane capture and organics diversion is, it only scratches the surface. That’s because household waste is a small contributor (somewhere between 10 and 15 per cent) of all food loss and waste in the country. The lion’s share occurs much higher up the food chain.

Second Harvest, along with many others including Harvest Manitoba, are proposing new approaches to reducing waste and loss while helping feed more people in need.

A few proposed solutions include lessening the aesthetic criteria on crops sold to retail or donated to food banks, addressing overproduction, changing liability rules and prohibitive insurance clauses to allow for donating edible crops instead of letting food go to waste, and ensuring all crops are harvested by addressing workforce demands.

Another big one is addressing ‘best before’ labelling problems. According to Second Harvest, most ‘best before’ dates have little to do with food safety and more about product marketing and brand management. Food can often be safely consumed and donated long after the label date, yet public awareness and perhaps even legislative changes may be necessary to effectively address this.

Further, farmers in Ontario, B.C. and Nova Scotia can receive a tax credit worth 25 per cent, in addition to the charitable donation tax credit, when donating agricultural products to food banks. Manitoba does not offer this — an item worth considering during the upcoming pre-budget consultation.

All these small changes can make a big difference, starting with the leftover turkey from this Thanksgiving dinner going to one of those new food waste depots instead of the trash can.

Click here to find the one nearest you. https://www.winnipeg.ca/services-programs/recycling-garbage/food-waste

Rochelle Squires is a recovering politician after 7 1/2 years in the Manitoba legislature. She is a political and social commentator whose column appears Tuesdays. rochelle@rochellesquires.ca