CQU research drives rescue plan for fruit and veg waste
A CQUniversity-led research project will help Australian growers save millions of tonnes of fruit and veg from the scrap heap, informing new action plans across horticulture, and specifically for banana and melon industries.
Produced with End Food Waste Australia (EFWA), the Australian Bananas Growers’ Council, Melons Australia, and through extensive collaboration from the horticulture industry, the Australian-first initiative will save fresh produce, and help halve Australia’s food waste by 2030.
Australia loses up to 22 per cent of its total horticulture production from farm to retail, with an incredible $1.72 billion of fruit and vegetables wasted every year.
CQUniversity’s Centre for Regional Economies and Supply Chains Director, Professor Delwar Akbar, led the research, to establish waste causes, and propose interventions for industry.
“Right across horticulture, growers and producers are desperate for solutions to the huge amount of waste, and want strategies across the industry to rescue what is perfectly edible, useable food,” Prof Akbar said.
Dr Steven Lapidge, Chief Executive Officer of End Food Waste Australia, says: “Reducing fresh produce waste would create billions of dollars of economic benefits, reduce environmental impacts in Australia’s food system, and directly help feed millions more food insecure Australians every year.”
The 15-month project mapped waste hotspots, included industry stakeholder interviews and surveys, and highlighted most impactful areas for action.
“Our analysis has identified nine priority actions to reduce waste from farm to retail, from enabling better on-farm innovations and data-collection, to reducing over-production, improved regulation and policy, and exploring ways to repurpose excess, for instance in food products with longer shelf lives,” Prof Akbar said.
“Producers feel they have to over-produce to make sure they meet the supply chain actors’, and consumers’, expectations.
“We’ve asked for a review of this process and enacting the other priority actions, because food is being wasted, when it could be feeding hungry Australians.”
The research also highlighted surprising facts about fruit and vegetable waste in Australia, including:
- More than 3 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables are wasted every year, enough to fill the MCG to the brim five times,
- Bananas are Australia’s most wasted fruit, representing 23.7 per cent of all fruit waste, followed by oranges at 19.1 per cent, and apples at 18.0 per cent,
- The average percentage of crop waste for bananas and melons is 20 to 29 per cent
- A 20 per cent reduction in melon wastage would save 48,953 tonnes of melons, and over $53 million a year,
- Although 31.4 per cent of fruit and veg waste happens on-farm and in processing, nearly as much happens in our homes too – 33.2 per cent!
“Australia is so lucky to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables grown across our incredible food bowls, but from farm to supermarket to family fridge, there’s so much potential to save food, and save money for producers, and for family budgets,” Prof Akbar said.
Professor Akbar’s research team also included Professor Hurriyet Babacan, Dr Margaret Matty, Dr Trang Nguyen, Dr Azad Rahman, and Professor Phillip Brown.
Dr Steven Lapidge is Chief Executive Officer of End Food Waste Australia, and said reducing horticulture waste is critical to reaching Australia’s goal of halving food waste by 2030.
He challenged food industry businesses to begin enacting priority actions in the plan, and producers to join the Australian Food Pact.
The horticulture, banana and melon sector action plans published by the End Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre, with support from the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources and Hort Innovation Australia, and in conjunction with CQUniversity, RMIT University, and University of Southern Queensland, with foundational funding provided by the Queensland Government’s Recycling and Jobs Fund, and Hort Innovation Banana and Melon Funds.
End Food Waste Australia’s Sector Action Plans are supported by the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Environment, Energy, and Water, and CQUniversity is a founding research partner of the initiative.
