Chapter 2

      A Side of Sustainability: Putting Food and the Environment into Context

      IN THIS CHAPTER

       Exploring food waste conservation across the food supply chain

       Discovering more about agriculture and where your food comes from

       Understanding food labels

      You may be wondering, “Why do I need to learn about sustainability or what farmers and ranchers do in a zero waste cooking book?” Arming yourself with a little background about sustainability, food waste data, and how your food gets from a farmer’s field to your local market can help you understand your role to reduce food waste at home.

      In this chapter, you find out about the food supply chain, the challenges that farmers and ranchers face, as well as some of the exciting technological advances of modern agriculture that make farming more efficient and eco-friendly, and bring more varieties of nutritious food to the table. This chapter also helps you understand how to interpret some of the hype and claims you often see on food packaging so you can skip the food fear and guild trip and avoid unnecessarily wasting the fruits of so many farmers’ labor.

Boiling It Down: Defining Sustainability

      Sustainability is a broad term that’s important to just about every industry today, from businesses to technology to social and environmental sciences. According to Merriam-Webster, sustainable generally means “capable of being sustained.” In the case of sustainable farming, it’s defined as “of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged.”

      The fact is, farmers have been thinking about sustainability for a long time. The dozens of farmers I’ve met all have a passion for caring for their land, wildlife, air, and water. They view sustainability as producing crops and livestock in an efficient way that preserves the environment while maintaining the well-being of their animals, land, families, and the community around them. This is done in part by using advanced specialized veterinary healthcare, genetic technology, and advanced nutrition for plant crops and animal production.

       If farmers from the past didn’t care for the soil and the land, there wouldn’t be arable land available today to grow crops on. Keep in mind that sustainability encompasses more than just the environment. It’s the intersection of environment, economics, and social responsibility. The work of bringing food to your table isn’t sustainable if it isn’t also economically viable.

      However, you don’t have to look far to read or hear statements that demonize ingredients — or worse, demonize the farmers and ranchers who work hard to grow and cultivate our food. The topic of sustainability has garnered a lot of attention over the past several years. Concerns are often encompassed within the context of scientific, economic, and political stances. Like just about every topic these days, a lot of misinformation and disagreement exists.

      These are challenging times for the world. Food waste contributes greenhouse gasses to the environment and is part of the climate change issue. You and I can start by making changes in our own kitchens, but it’s also important to understand a little about what sustainability in agriculture looks like and the roles of all the other players. Many people, across all food-related industries, are working to manage the nexus between food and climate to feed a growing population while also protecting the planet.

Sustainability in Agriculture: Economic, Environmental, and Social Concerns

      Big-picture sustainability encompasses concerns for the environment as well as social equity and economic viability. Without one, you can’t have the other. For the purpose of this book, I introduce these pillars in terms of food production and procurement.

      Meeting your needs and the needs of your grandchildren

      Today’s world looks very different than it did in the 1960s. Global population has almost reached 7.9 billion people in 2021. That’s about 6 billion more people than in the 1920s and double the people of the 1960s. That’s a lot of mouths to feed. The need for water is also at a critical junction in many areas of the Western United States, including California, which produces about 50 percent of the fruits and vegetables brought to market year round. In addition, about a third of the world live in poverty with limited access to energy, water, or food. So, you see, focusing on sustainability is as important to humanity as it is to the planet.

      We also now consume more resources than ever. Urban areas consume more power than rural settings, but we all use resources to light buildings, power appliances, and heat offices and schools. It’s estimated that we use more resources each year than we put back. However, farmers are pretty efficient.

      According to the International Food Information Council’s (IFIC) 2021 Food & Health Survey, 42 percent of the 1,014 consumers surveyed (ages 18 to 80) believed their food choices have a moderate to significant impact on the environment. However, the perceived factors (sustainably sources labeling, recyclable packaging, non-GMO labels, locally grown) that those surveyed equate with “environmentally sustainable” don’t necessarily relate to actual sustainability practices and may not be well regulated or defined. Opinions vary by generation as well. About 54 percent of Baby Boomers and Gen X say it’s “at least somewhat” important that the food they buy is environmentally sustainable, whereas 61 percent of Millennials say it’s “very/somewhat” important. Those surveyed agreed that it’s difficult to know whether a food choice is environmentally sustainable, with