Why does almost half of America’s food go to waste?

We launch an occasional series
we are calling "Food, Glorious Food,"

reports about what we eat,
how our food is grown,

and the economics
of putting a meal on the table.

Tonight we begin with food waste.

Much of what is grown on American farms
never gets to market.

Allison Aubrey, of National Public Radio,
has our report.

This story is part The News Hour's
ongoing collaboration with NPR.

(sprinklers spraying)

♪ Latino music ♪

(Allison Aubrey) In Salinas Valley,
California, it's a symphony of sound

as the growing season gets underway.

This fertile strip produces
70% of our leafy greens.

It's been dubbed
"The Salad Bowl of America."

But not everything grown here
makes it to our plates.

In fact, some of it never leaves Salinas.

At the local solid-waste dump,

Operations Manager Cesar Zuniga
watches as trucks roll in, every day,

to dump produce
destined for a nearby landfill.

We got a whole load,
pretty much, of loose organic lettuce.

We've got spinach towards the back.

It looks like it's perfectly fine,
nothing wrong with it.

We've got some kale here.

We've got broccoli in the back, as well.

We have plenty of produce
to make a salad here.

(Allison) The greens in this landfill
are from local farms,

and sometimes they end up here

because something goes wrong
during the packaging process.

Another reason
perfectly good food gets wasted?

Peter Lehner, from the Natural Resources
Defense Council explains.

Right now, food that isn't sold
to your best buyer

is often dumped in the landfill.

The prices for fresh fruits
and vegetables

can go up and down quite a bit,

and farmers may plant thinking
they'll get one price,

but by the time harvest comes around
there's another price,

and it's not even worth it for them
to get to the market.

(Allison) A report by the Natural
Resources Defense Council says

that as much as 40% of all the food

produced in the United States
never gets eaten.

The idea that almost half
of our food is wasted is crazy.

(Allison) That waste occurs
at every point along the food chain.

Some is lost in transport
and during food processing.

Supermarkets and we the consumers
end up tossing out a lot too.

But what about what's lost on the farm?

An NRDC report found that anywhere
from 1% to 30% of farmers' crops

don't make it to market.

We toured Ocean Mist Farms
with Art Barrientos to find out why.

This cauliflower here, you see
how it has that yellow tinge to it?

- Mmhm.
- This is not marketable.

- Just because the color is a bit off?
- Because it's yellow.

This will not be packed.

It's got to be every bit as nutritious

as the white cauliflower
down here in the field.

What's wrong with it?

There isn't anything wrong with it.
Let me cut a...

- Grab that floret.
- Okay, yes.

It's crunchy. It's tasty.

Tastes like any cauliflower I've ever had.

So are we just shopping with our eyeballs,

and forgetting all about our tastebuds?

Absolutely. As consumers,
we want white cauliflower.

That's what we expect from our grocer.

As a result, it gets incorporated
back into the ground.

We won't harvest it.

So what's another issue

that might ding something
out of the marketplace?

(Art) Size. Size is critical.

This cauliflower here is just too big.

(Allison) So you have to meet
these very specific size stipulations?

Yes, and this is too big.

(Allison) It's really
kind of shocking to me.

Well... yes, it can be.

(Allison) Size matters
because retailers demand uniformity.

When everything is stacked up nicely,
it makes for better eye candy,

like this perfect leaf-sized cauliflower
that is being wrapped up,

destined for the produce isle.

The yellow rejects,

and heads deemed too big or too small,

are left behind in the field
to be plowed under.

And if you think broccoli and cauliflower
have a tough time making the grade,

check out these peaches!

(Chris Holland) If you look at this peach,
the fruit all the way around.

There's no blemishes to it.

It's got red color
with a yellow blush background.

That's going to go to our premium box,
the high-end retail.

And this one here has got green on it,
so this would definitely go in a #2.

We wouldn't put this in a premium box.

(video scrubbing sound)

(Allison) Wait. Back that up!
Premium grade? Seconds?

Wouldn't you buy those seconds?

And the ones that don't even rate
as a #1 or #2?

Dumped into this truck.

(Chris) This truck here is our final
throwing out, going to the cattle feed.

(truck passing)

So think of everything it takes
to grow these crops;

the water, the fertilizer,
the fuel to run the tractor.

But ultimately if these crops
don't measure up to standards,

they're just plowed under
here in the field,

and all that energy is wasted.

80% percent of our water,
10% of our energy,

40% of our land is used to grow our food.

(Allison) And when
it ends up in a landfill, Lehner says,

there's another problem.

(Peter) Now, food is
the largest material in our landfills.

Of all the things that are in our dumps,
the biggest portion is food.

And when it rots in a landfill,
it emits methane,

which is a very potent greenhouse gas,

30 or 100 times more potent
than carbon dioxide.

(Allison) But there are some solutions
on the horizon.

Ocean Mist and HMC Farms donate
some of their less-than-perfect produce

to the California food banks.

Last year, Ocean Mist sent nearly
400,000 lbs. of broccoli and cauliflower,

and some of it ends up here,
at this warehouse in San Francisco.

It can store seven
square miles of produce.

Paul Ash oversees the operation.

He says in the last decade,
the California Association of Food Banks

has doubled the amount
of produce it distributes.

(Paul Ash) This year, we hope to grow
the California Farm-to-Family Program

by over 70 million pounds.

And part of that will mean more produce
for California food banks.

But we hope part of it also means
that we're going to be able

to push this eastward,
to other food banks.

(Allison) The Food Bank's
Farm-to-Family Program

has tried to recruit more growers
who pack in the field

to do what Ocean Mist does.

They separate out the seconds,
and pack it in these black crates

headed for the food bank.

The premium heads get packed
in the Ocean Mist boxes,

headed for retailers.

It's a simple process,

but only 3 out of 25
broccoli and cauliflower growers

in the state participate.

Harold McClarty, of HMC Farms
says he'd like to donate

more of his peaches
to the food banks, but...

Getting it into the hands
of somebody to eat it isn't free.

There's got to be an economic incentive
to move more of this

into an avenue that food banks
could take advantage of.

It's a lot easier and cheaper
just to basically throw it away.

(Allison) The State of California
does offer farmers tax credits

to donate produce,

but Ash says the food banks
are lobbying for bigger deductions.

There are only six other states
besides California

that give tax breaks to growers
for donating food.

Fifty million Americans don't know
where their next meal is coming from.

We, meanwhile, are wasting all this food.

If we cut our food waste even by a third,

there would be enough food
for all those people who don't know

where their next meal is coming from,
to be fully fed.

(Allison) As food banks work
to expand their programs,

some entrepreneurs say there are
so many seconds to go around,

they see a whole new business model,

much like what
a French supermarket did last year.

(commercial) So we launch
"les fruits & légumes moches,"

starring the grotesque apple,

the ridiculous potato,

(Allison) And it worked.

(commercial) Our new kind of fruits
and vegetables were an immediate success.

We faced only one problem--
being sold out.

(Allison) Here in the U.S., entrepreneur
Ben Simon and two partners

are betting they can turn Americans
onto less-than-perfect produce.

We're working hard right now
to launch a new venture

called "Imperfect."

You get a box of seasonal, ugly produce
delivered to your door every week.

And because this produce looks
a little funky on the outside,

you get it for 30-50% less
than what it costs--

(Allison) Imperfect plans to start
delivery in the San Francisco area

sometime this summer,
and they've just signed a deal

with a high-end grocery chain
called Raley's,

which has more than 100 stores
in California and Nevada.

Here's Raley's Megan Burritt.

(Megan) When they're
picking up that apple,

we need to somehow tell them that story,

whether it's, "These are
the underdog apples!

Who doesn't love an underdog story?!"
Or something like that.

(Allison) Will Americans
embrace these misfits

as easily as the Europeans have?

Raley's is betting they will.

(truckers talking)

And, back in Salinas, Cesar Zuniga
is anticipating traffic will pick up

as the growing season hits full swing.

For the PBS Newshour,
I'm Allison Aubrey of NPR News,

in Salinas Valley.