III Food Loss Challenge

Food loss starts at the production level. Low market prices and high labor costs often make it uneconomic for farmers to harvest everything they produce. Strict cosmetic standards result in an insufficient demand for imperfect-looking products.

Despite farm-to-food collection and efforts to recover this uncollected food, the vast majority is left in the fields. Additionally, supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 closures and other barriers, along with labor shortages caused by virus precautions, led to increased farm-level waste early in the pandemic.

Food waste reduction solutions and recommendations include producers or producers and companies that package agricultural or animal products at the point of production. Agriculture generates 16.7 million tonnes of surplus produce; almost all are left behind after harvest as it is not considered marketable.

Only 1.7% is donated to hunger relief. Implementing solutions and establishing best practices at the farm level can build resilience across the supply chain is imperative.

Startups are sources of new products and solutions. With the challenge, in its second edition, Bayer contributes to strengthening the transformation of food systems.