Tackle food waste to ease production pressures

The pressure on the world’s farmers to produce more food could be slashed dramatically if the issue of food waste was properly tackled.

Professor Sir Bob Watson, the government’s chief scientific advisor, said while population increases meant food demand would double in the next 50 years, production did not have to double.

Speaking to delegates at the Oxford Farming Conference on Wednesday (4 January), Sir Bob said production would only need to be increased by 30-60% if waste was reduced.

“Around 80% of food in developing countries is wasted before it gets to market,” he said.

“In the UK, most is wasted in food retail and in the home. If we can address this issue we could go a long way in securing food supplies.”

In addition to food waste, research and development also needed to be addressed if the world was to be properly fed.

“We can currently feed the world without any further advancement in science and technology, but climate change is a major threat on all major crops,” he said.

“Science will be critical in meeting the challenge of climate change, biodiversity loss and increased air pollution.”

Professor Watson said science had to produce crops which could cope with increased temperatures, salinization and increased food safety.

“I keep hearing there will be drought resistant crops – we need to see potential of these things realised,” he said.

“Business as usual wouldn’t work in terms of research and development. We need to make sure that we get rural development right in developing countries and that science and technology penetrates the market.”

With a limited amount of land available to farmers, the government had to think carefully about land use and how farmers were supported for taking care of it, Professor Watson added.

“The natural world is important to use but we undervalue the importance of ecosystem services – we don’t have a market mechanism for things like water quality.

“We need to take into account monetary and non-monetary value of ecosystem services. CAP has to ensure we have that payment.”

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