Globally, food waste on farms is estimated to be around 1.2 billion tonnes, resulting in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 2.2 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (WWF, 2021). Tackling the issue of food surplus and waste on farms can bring significant business benefits. Research suggests that reducing food surplus and waste to the minimum reported rates can increase profits by up to 20% for farm enterprises (WRAP, 2021).
To help the sector address the issues of on-farm food surplus and waste, between April 2021 and March 2022, WRAP supported nine supply chain businesses and 34 farms to deliver group measurement projects.
- Upskill farm advisers across the UK to support on-farm measurement.
- Support advisers to generate comparative data across farms and then support producers to identify opportunities and solutions.
- Motivate the supply chain to support on-farm measurement and engage in whole chain solutions.
The findings from the projects have been compiled into a report which can be accessed by clicking the 'download' button.
- The majority of participants identified opportunities to reduce waste and have either continued with on-farm measurement or said that it was likely that they would.
- While only a small proportion of the sector were involved, these projects have delivered a marked increase in the number of UK businesses that have developed the skills and motivation to continue farm food waste measurement into the future.
- As long as awareness levels of the value of farm food waste measurement remain low, it is likely that businesses’ motivation to undertake measurement projects and their perception of opportunity will remain mixed.
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Primary production case studies
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DownloadWRAP-Rolling-Out-On-Farm-Measurement-Report 2021-22
PDF, 1.42 MB