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There are food trends. Once upon a time, organic food was a Thing. Now it is just normal. Then, Eating Locally was a Thing. Now, Food Waste is a Thing. And the single most commonly quoted number on food waste is that (up to)40% of all food produced in the US is wasted.
Where the heck did that figure come from, anyway?
Here it is! I will note up front that the sourcing on this is unusually solid AND it was unusually EASY to track down this origin point, versus tracking down various other trendy statistics. A lot of trendy statistics turn out to be unadulterated, Telephone-style bull shit. This is real.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40039495_The_Progressive_Impact_of_Food_Waste_in_America_and_Its_Environmental_Impact
It’s from 2009. Basically, the authors do a bunch of math on some numbers to calculate how much food is produced in the US, how much food could be consumed in the US (there is obviously some potential for jiggery pokery here), and note that the difference between the two has increased over time (hence the “progressive” part) and as of 2009 it is running around 40% but that might well be a lower bound.
So I guess one thing to note is that the (up to)40% may actually be (at least)40%. Or (something on the order of)40%. Or WTF.
In answer to your question, YES how much food got shipped into and out of the country is part of the calculation of “produced in the US”.
These authors say we are _producing_ about twice as much food as we could possibly be consuming. And that is Not Good, because it consumes a lot of fossil fuels and other stuff, and then it rots making more greenhouse gases.
Here is my analysis:
Why the fuck has trimming food waste _at home_ and _in restaurants_ at the point of consumption become a Thing, when that will have Zero Impact on overproduction?
That’s it. That’s my entire analysis. Should you buy too much food and then throw it away? Probably not.
Will reducing the amount of food _purchased_ by individuals in the store and at restaurants or wherever create net pressure to reduce overproduction?
Doubtful. If you’ve ever met anyone involved in commercial food production, you realize they are focused solely on ramping up production, so as to make more money. You can talk them into wasting less so as to improve their margin, but it is difficult to get them to consciously limit how much they produce. In fact, generally speaking, imposed quotas generate a ton of cheating and political pushback.
Good news, tho! It’s super easy to feed up to twice as many people as are currently alive! We’ve already solved that problem.
Where the heck did that figure come from, anyway?
Here it is! I will note up front that the sourcing on this is unusually solid AND it was unusually EASY to track down this origin point, versus tracking down various other trendy statistics. A lot of trendy statistics turn out to be unadulterated, Telephone-style bull shit. This is real.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40039495_The_Progressive_Impact_of_Food_Waste_in_America_and_Its_Environmental_Impact
It’s from 2009. Basically, the authors do a bunch of math on some numbers to calculate how much food is produced in the US, how much food could be consumed in the US (there is obviously some potential for jiggery pokery here), and note that the difference between the two has increased over time (hence the “progressive” part) and as of 2009 it is running around 40% but that might well be a lower bound.
So I guess one thing to note is that the (up to)40% may actually be (at least)40%. Or (something on the order of)40%. Or WTF.
In answer to your question, YES how much food got shipped into and out of the country is part of the calculation of “produced in the US”.
These authors say we are _producing_ about twice as much food as we could possibly be consuming. And that is Not Good, because it consumes a lot of fossil fuels and other stuff, and then it rots making more greenhouse gases.
Here is my analysis:
Why the fuck has trimming food waste _at home_ and _in restaurants_ at the point of consumption become a Thing, when that will have Zero Impact on overproduction?
That’s it. That’s my entire analysis. Should you buy too much food and then throw it away? Probably not.
Will reducing the amount of food _purchased_ by individuals in the store and at restaurants or wherever create net pressure to reduce overproduction?
Doubtful. If you’ve ever met anyone involved in commercial food production, you realize they are focused solely on ramping up production, so as to make more money. You can talk them into wasting less so as to improve their margin, but it is difficult to get them to consciously limit how much they produce. In fact, generally speaking, imposed quotas generate a ton of cheating and political pushback.
Good news, tho! It’s super easy to feed up to twice as many people as are currently alive! We’ve already solved that problem.