-
Not Synced
We launch an occasional series
we are calling "Food, Glorious Food,"
-
Not Synced
reports about what we eat,
how our food is grown,
-
Not Synced
and the economics
of putting a meal on the table.
-
Not Synced
Tonight we begin with food waste.
-
Not Synced
Much of what is grown on American farms
never gets to market.
-
Not Synced
Allison Aubry, of National Public Radio,
has our report.
-
Not Synced
This story is part The News Hour's
ongoing collaboration with NPR.
-
Not Synced
(sprinklers spraying)
-
Not Synced
♪ Latino music ♪
-
Not Synced
(Allison Aubrey) In Salinas Valley,
California, it's a symphony of sound
-
Not Synced
as the growing season gets underway.
-
Not Synced
This fertile strip produces
70% of our leafy greens.
-
Not Synced
It's been dubbed
"The Salad Bowl of America."
-
Not Synced
But not everything grown here
makes it to our plates.
-
Not Synced
In fact, some of it never leaves Salinas.
-
Not Synced
At the local solid-waste dump,
-
Not Synced
Operations Manager Cesar Zuniga
watches as trucks roll in, every day,
-
Not Synced
to dump produce
destined for a nearby landfill.
-
Not Synced
We've got a whole load,
pretty much, of loose organic lettuce.
-
Not Synced
We've got spinach towards the back.
-
Not Synced
It looks like it's perfectly fine,
nothing wrong with it.
-
Not Synced
We've got some kale here.
-
Not Synced
We've got broccoli in the back, as well.
-
Not Synced
We have plenty of produce
to make a salad here.
-
Not Synced
(Allison) The greens in this landfill
are from local farms,
-
Not Synced
and sometimes they end up here
-
Not Synced
because something goes wrong
during the packaging process.
-
Not Synced
Another reason
perfectly good food gets wasted?
-
Not Synced
Peter Lehner, from the Natural Resources
Defense Council explains.
-
Not Synced
Right now, food that isn't sold
to your best buyer
-
Not Synced
is often dumped in the landfill.
-
Not Synced
The prices for fresh fruits
and vegetables
-
Not Synced
can go up and down quite a bit,
-
Not Synced
and farmers may plant thinking
they'll get one price,
-
Not Synced
but by the time harvest comes around
there's another price,
-
Not Synced
and it's not even worth it for them
to get to the market.
-
Not Synced
(Allison) A report by the Natural
Resources Defense Council says
-
Not Synced
that as much as 40% of all the food
-
Not Synced
produced in the United States
never gets eaten.
-
Not Synced
The idea that almost half
of our food is wasted is crazy.
-
Not Synced
(Allison) That waste occurs
at every point along the food chain.
-
Not Synced
Some is lost in transport
and during food processing.
-
Not Synced
Supermarkets and we the consumers
end up tossing out a lot too.
-
Not Synced
But what about what's lost on the farm?
-
Not Synced
An NRDC report found that anywhere
from 1% to 30% of farmers' crops
-
Not Synced
don't make it to market.
-
Not Synced
We toured Ocean Mist Farms
with Art Barrientos to find out why.
-
Not Synced
This cauliflower here, you see
how it has that yellow tinge to it?
-
Not Synced
- Mmhm.
- This is not marketable.
-
Not Synced
- Just because the color is a bit off?
- Because it's yellow.
-
Not Synced
This will not be packed.
-
Not Synced
It's got to be every bit as nutritious
-
Not Synced
as the white cauliflower
down here in the field.
-
Not Synced
What's wrong with it?
-
Not Synced
There isn't anything wrong with it.
Let me cut a--
-
Not Synced
- Grab that floret.
- Okay, yes.
-
Not Synced
It's crunchy. It's tasty.
-
Not Synced
Tastes like any cauliflower I've ever had.
-
Not Synced
So are we just shopping with our eyeballs,
-
Not Synced
and forgetting all about our tastebuds?
-
Not Synced
Absolutely. As consumers,
we want white cauliflower.
-
Not Synced
That's what we expect from our grocer.
-
Not Synced
As a result, it gets incorporated
back into the ground.
-
Not Synced
We won't harvest it.
-
Not Synced
So what's another issue
-
Not Synced
that might ding something
out of the marketplace?
-
Not Synced
(Art) Size. Size is critical.
-
Not Synced
This cauliflower here is just too big.
-
Not Synced
(Allison) So you have to meet
these very specific size stipulations?
-
Not Synced
Yes, and this is too big.
-
Not Synced
(Allison) It's really
kind of shocking to me.
-
Not Synced
Well... yes, it can be.
-
Not Synced
(Allison) Size matters
because retailers demand uniformity.
-
Not Synced
When everything is stacked up nicely,
it makes for better eye candy,
-
Not Synced
like this perfect leaf-sized cauliflower
that is being wrapped up,
-
Not Synced
destined for the produce isle.
-
Not Synced
The yellow rejects,
-
Not Synced
and heads deemed too big or too small,
-
Not Synced
are left behind in the field
to be plowed under.
-
Not Synced
And if you think broccoli and cauliflower
have a tough time making the grade,
-
Not Synced
check out these peaches!
-
Not Synced
(Chris Holland) If you look at this peach,
it's a fruit all the way around.
-
Not Synced
There's no blemishes to it.
-
Not Synced
It's got red color
with a yellow blush background.
-
Not Synced
That's going to go to a premium box,
the high-end retail.
-
Not Synced
And this one here has got green on it,
so this would definitely go in a #2.
-
Not Synced
We wouldn't put this in a premium box.
-
Not Synced
(video scrubbing sound)
-
Not Synced
(Allison) Wait. Back that up!
Premium grade? Seconds?
-
Not Synced
Wouldn't you buy those seconds?
-
Not Synced
And the ones that don't even rate
as a #1 or #2?
-
Not Synced
Dumped into this truck.
-
Not Synced
(Chris) This truck here is our final
throwing out, going to the cattle feed.
-
Not Synced
(truck passing)
-
Not Synced
So think of everything it takes
to grow these crops--
-
Not Synced
the water, the fertilizer,
the fuel to run the tractor.
-
Not Synced
But ultimately if these crops
don't measure up to standards,
-
Not Synced
they're just plowed under
here in the field,
-
Not Synced
and all that energy is wasted.
-
Not Synced
80% percent of our water,
10% of our energy,
-
Not Synced
40% of our land is used to grow our food.
-
Not Synced
(Allison) And when it ends up in a landfill,
Lehner says, there's another problem.
-
Not Synced
(Peter) Now, food is
the largest material in our landfills.
-
Not Synced
Of all the things that are in our dumps,
the biggest portion is food.
-
Not Synced
And when it rots in a landfill,
it emits methane,
-
Not Synced
which is a very potent greenhouse gas,
-
Not Synced
30 or 100 times more potent
than carbon dioxide.
-
Not Synced
(Allison) But there are some solutions
on the horizon.
-
Not Synced
Ocean Mist and HMC Farms donate
some of their less-than-perfect produce
-
Not Synced
to the California food banks.
-
Not Synced
Last year, Ocean Mist sent nearly
400,000 lbs. of broccoli and cauliflower,
-
Not Synced
and some of it ends up here,
at this warehouse in San Francisco.
-
Not Synced
It can store seven
square miles of produce.
-
Not Synced
Paul Ash oversees the operation.
-
Not Synced
He says in the last decade,
the California Association of Food Banks
-
Not Synced
has doubled the amount
of produce it distributes.
-
Not Synced
(Paul Ash) This year, we hope to grow
the California Farm-to-Family Program
-
Not Synced
by over 70 million pounds.
-
Not Synced
And part of that will mean more produce
for California food banks.
-
Not Synced
But we hope part of it also means
that we're going to be able
-
Not Synced
to push this eastward,
to other food banks.
-
Not Synced
(Allison) The food bank's
Farm-to-Family Program
-
Not Synced
has tried to recruit more growers
who pack in the field
-
Not Synced
to do what Ocean Mist does.
-
Not Synced
They separate out the seconds,
and pack it in these black crates
-
Not Synced
headed for the food bank.
-
Not Synced
The premium heads get packed
in the Ocean Mist boxes,
-
Not Synced
headed for retailers.
-
Not Synced
It's a simple process,
-
Not Synced
but only 3 out of 25
broccoli and cauliflower growers
-
Not Synced
in the state participate.
-
Not Synced
Harold McClarty, of HMC Farms
says he'd like to donate
-
Not Synced
more of his peaches
to the food banks, but...
-
Not Synced
Getting it into the hands
of somebody to eat it isn't free.
-
Not Synced
There's got to be an economic incentive
to move more of this
-
Not Synced
into an avenue that food banks
could take advantage of.
-
Not Synced
It's a lot easier and cheaper
just to basically throw it away.
-
Not Synced
(Allison) The State of California
does offer farmers tax credits
-
Not Synced
to donate produce,
-
Not Synced
but Ash says the food banks
are lobbying for bigger deductions.
-
Not Synced
There are only six other states
besides California
-
Not Synced
that give tax breaks to growers
for donating food.
-
Not Synced
Fifty million Americans don't know
where their next meal is coming from.
-
Not Synced
We, meanwhile, are wasting all this food.
-
Not Synced
If we cut our food waste even by a third,
-
Not Synced
there would be enough food
for all those people who don't know
-
Not Synced
where their next meal is coming from,
to be fully fed.
-
Not Synced
(Allison) As food banks work
to expand their programs,
-
Not Synced
some entrepreneurs say there are
so many seconds to go around,
-
Not Synced
they see a whole new business model,
-
Not Synced
much like what
a French supermarket did last year.
-
Not Synced
(commercial) So we launch
"les fruits & légumes moches,"
-
Not Synced
starring the grotesque apple,
-
Not Synced
the ridiculous potato,
-
Not Synced
(Allison) And it worked.
-
Not Synced
(commercial) Our new kind of fruits
and vegetables were an immediate success.
-
Not Synced
We faced only one problem--
being sold out.
-
Not Synced
(Allison) Here in the U.S., entrepreneur
Ben Simon and two partners
-
Not Synced
are betting they can turn Americans
onto less-than-perfect produce.
-
Not Synced
(Ben Simon) We're working hard right now
to launch a new venture
-
Not Synced
called "Imperfect."
-
Not Synced
You get a box of seasonal, ugly produce
delivered to your door every week.
-
Not Synced
And because this produce looks
a little funky on the outside,
-
Not Synced
you get it for 30-50% less
than what it costs--
-
Not Synced
(Allison) Imperfect plans to start
delivery in the San Francisco area
-
Not Synced
sometime this summer,
and they've just signed a deal
-
Not Synced
with a high-end grocery chain
called Raley's,
-
Not Synced
which has more than 100 stores
in California and Nevada.
-
Not Synced
Here's Raley's Megan Burritt.
-
Not Synced
(Megan) When they're
picking up that apple,
-
Not Synced
we need to somehow tell them that story,
-
Not Synced
whether it's, "These are
the underdog apples!
-
Not Synced
Who doesn't love an underdog story?!"
Or something like that.
-
Not Synced
(Allison) Will Americans
embrace these misfits
-
Not Synced
as easily as the Europeans have?
-
Not Synced
Raley's is betting they will.
-
Not Synced
(truckers talking)
-
Not Synced
And, back in Salinas, Cesar Zuniga
is anticipating traffic will pick up
-
Not Synced
as the growing season hits full swing.
-
Not Synced
For the PBS Newshour,
I'm Allison Aubrey of NPR News,
-
Not Synced
in Salinas Valley.