Food, Famine and the Scourge of Waste

           Today in the UK, 7 million slices of bread, 2.8 million tomatoes and 660,000 eggs will be thrown in the garbage. Most will be perfectly good and entirely edible.

The same amount will be thrown out tomorrow and the next day. As it was yesterday and the day before. In fact, these items make up just a small portion of the food that is wasted every single day in the UK.

Put together, more than $16 billion (US) a year is literally being thrown in the trash.

Such is the cruel irony of our age. As governments in the developed world face massive deficits and people in poor countries struggle to feed themselves, we are discarding expensive food on a mammoth scale.

Few of us give a second thought to the leftovers on our plate, the apple that just doesn’t look right, or the bread crusts we don’t like. But the problem of food waste is epidemic and the implications are severe.  

Of course, the UK is not the only offender, nor is it the worst.  Depending on who you believe, the United States throws out between 30 and 50 per cent of its food, totaling some $100 billion a year.

Compare that to the developing world, where food scarcity is common and Somalia is still being ravaged by famine. More than 1 billion people suffer from malnutrition and a child dies of hunger every six seconds.

So why the disparity? How can it be that so few waste so much, while the rest starve?

The biggest culprit is the culture of abundance so pervasive in many Western countries. We simply produce too much, far more than we need, and feel entitled to doing just that. Somehow, overproduction and overconsumption have become symbols of a free and democratic society.

And when we have too much, we simply throw it out. It doesn’t seem to matter, since there’s always more at the grocery store. Rows and rows of cheap packaged goods means we never have to worry about where our next meal will come from. 

Food, after all, is just another commodity. It’s long lost its true value. The days where your grandmother told you not to waste food because you’re lucky to have it are long gone.

But not all the news is bad. In pockets around the world, movements toward smarter shopping are gaining traction as people commit themselves to a responsible lifestyle.

More and more consumers are logging on to websites like www.wastedfood.com to find tips on food preservation—everything from advice on storing what you buy to recipes for your leftovers.

And for the food we do throw out, Sweden is leading the charge to turn organic waste into fuel. The country already has 7,000 cars and 800 buses that run on biogas.  In 2005, it even unveiled the world’s first biogas commuter train.

There’s still a lot of work to do, but these are important first steps. In the end, the way we view what we eat will only change once we realize just what it means to throw food away and what we are really losing when we do. 

There’s certainly nothing wasteful about that.

How We're Subsidizing Somalia's Famine

          The images are haunting: entire malnourished families pour into makeshift camps, on the verge of starvation, desperate to avoid the famine that has spread in parts of Somalia.

          The UN says that the worst drought in 60 years has killed tens of thousands of people and threatens millions more. More than half of Somalia’s children are now in dire need of food.

          Predictably, the images have led to a flurry of donations and promises of goodwill from developed countries like the United States and those in Europe. We’re here for you in your time of crisis, they say.

          But they’re missing the point.

          While donations certainly do help relief efforts, they do not address long-term causes. If global powers are serious about tackling famine for good, they must start by helping farmers in the developing world succeed.

          Yet the fact remains that wealthy countries continue to cut poor farmers off at the knees, leaving them unable to feed their own countries and making them more vulnerable to crisis—like drought. 

          They do this by subsidizing rich Western farming conglomerates to the staggering tune of $300 billion every year. Those conglomerates use that money to produce much more than they need, which is then dumped into global markets at artificially low prices.

          When those subsidized goods land in developing countries, they undercut local prices. That makes it impossible for local farmers to compete, so they go out of business.

          According to former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, lavish Western farm subsidies and the unlevel playing field they create cost developing countries a staggering $100 billion a year in lost income.

          Farming is a key sector in many developing countries, including Somalia, so the growth of sustainable agricultural infrastructure is essential. When farmers fail, entire economies do.

          Yet the subsidies continue. In Japan, for example, farmers receive roughly $7 a day from the government for each of their cows. Cattle are treated to imported food, cold beer, soothing music and even massages.

          Ironically, and sadly, that’s far better treatment than most Somali people will ever get.  It doesn’t seem to matter in Washington though, or in European capitals, where the farming lobby is big business.

          In 2006 alone, U.S. agribusiness lobbyists spent more than $90 million pushing for subsidies and other perks. Half that money went directly to Congressional candidates and party committees during that year’s mid-term elections.

          Two years later—when Congress introduced the farm bill that’s still in place today—no one was surprised to see it full of subsidies. Then-President George W. Bush even vetoed the bill, saying it was too “bloated” with handouts. But he was promptly overridden by rather keen members of Congress. 

          Back in Somalia and across the developing world, where farmers struggle just to stay afloat, people are starving. Even before the current famine, a child died of hunger every six seconds. 

          Of course, that’s not to say we are solely to blame for Somalia’s famine. Climate change, rampant political instability and poverty have all played a role. But we have not been bystanders either.

          Clearly something needs to change.

          Until developing agricultural industries are allowed to compete in their own markets, instead of being drowned out by subsidized foreign imports, farmers and the economies they support will remain weak, unstable and dependent on others. 

          But for that to happen, we must first stop treating food as just another political commodity to profit from and begin seeing it for what it really is—a necessity of life and a human right.

          Because when it comes to growing enough food to feed ourselves, there should be no winners and losers.