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5A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 Hunger: 133 billion pounds of food are wasted each year Consult a PROFESSIONAL Continued from Page 1A Billions wasted Every year, 133 billion pounds of food at the con- sumer and retail level is nev- er consumed, a $161.6 bil- lion write-off at retail prices, according to a 2014 USDA study. The Natural Resourc- es Defense Council estimates that 40 percent of the food grown in the U.S. — enough WR ¿OO WKH 5RVH %RZO HYHU\ day — is never eaten. The waste includes 20 percent of the nation’s milk production and 52 percent of the fruit and vegetables grown, according to the NRDC. In this abundance of plen- ty, however, many do without. In 2013, some 49.1 million Americans lived in “food-in- secure” households, where a good meal is inaccessible at least part of the time, accord- ing to the USDA’s Econom- ic Research Service. About 33 percent of all emergency food recipients are children. Recovering just 30 percent of wasted U.S. food could feed all those Americans, accord- ing to the NRDC. -RKQ%XUWH[HFXWLYHGLUHF- WRU RI WKH QRQSUR¿W )DUPHUV Ending Hunger in Salem, said WKDW DIWHU D IDPLO\ ¿QLVKHV paying for rent, transportation and utilities, food is often the RQO\H[SHQVHWKDWFDQEHFXW “That last thing you don’t have to spend money on, in- credibly, is food,” he said. “Nobody’s going to make you.” )URPWUDFWRUWRWDEOHLQHI- ¿FLHQFLHV H[LVW DOO DORQJ WKH supply chain. Grocery stores, restaurants and food service institutions are responsible for 50 percent of the food wasted in the U.S., said Jo- $QQH %HUNHQNDPS D VHQLRU DGYRFDWH ZLWK 15'&¶V )RRG & Agriculture Program. In a presentation to a 1DWLRQDO 3UHVV )RXQGDWLRQ fellowship group in July, %HUNHQNDPS VDLG JURFHU\ store waste is the result of “hyper-stocked” shelves, too much variety, poor handling, overly strict pull dates and too much emphasis on cosmetic appearance. Restaurants provide por- tions that are too large, and the “kitchen culture,” with its emphasis on speed and ap- pearance, pays little attention to waste, she said. %HUNHQNDPS VDLG SURGXF- ers account for 7 percent of waste and processors just 1 percent. “That segment of WKH IRRG V\VWHP LV TXLWH HI¿- cient,” she said. Consumers, on the other hand, are responsible for 42 SHUFHQWRIWKHZDVWH%HUNHQ- kamp said. We buy too much and cook too much, she said. “Then we have leftovers, and we don’t like leftovers.” Consumers also are hy- peraware of date labeling on food products, often mistak- ing them for safety warnings rather than freshness adviso- ries. Many people throw food DZD\UDWKHUH[DPLQHLWWKHP- selves and give it a sniff test, she said. Cutting waste Reducing waste is a com- SOLFDWHG PDWWHU ([SHUWV VD\ consumers’ picky preferences, where every fruit or vegetable must be “just so,” ensure se- lective harvests that overlook some edible but aesthetically unpleasing food. Produce with minor bumps and blemishes is sometimes OHIW XQKDUYHVWHG )RRG FDQ HYHQEHGLVTXDOL¿HGIRUEHLQJ too big, which was the case at a recent Salem Harvest event. “All these cucumbers were OHIW LQ WKH ¿HOG EHFDXVH WKH\ were too long or too fat or had a little yellow on them,” %DXPDQ VDLG ³7KH JURFHU\ store says the consumers are driving it, and the consumer says the grocery store isn’t giving them the option. It’s just blame, blame, blame and nothing gets done.” At the farm level, produc- ers sometimes plow under unpicked food, renewing the soil with nutrients, but the un- necessary crop has a cost in energy, labor and water. ([SHUWV VD\ VRPH IDUPHUV are squeezed by rigid con- In Windows 10, I get the Q: can “Documents” LEO FINZI Zane Sparling/Capital Press Salem Harvest Executive Director Elise Bauman, left, helps her daughter Abigail, 6, pick blueberries at the Beilke Family Farm in August. tracts with processors that reward overproduction and ignore variable yields. )DUPHUVXVHSHUFHQW of the nation’s energy, 50 percent of the land and 80 percent of the available fresh water. According to an NRDC research paper, about 25 percent of that water is wasted on food that never makes it to the plate. ³)DUPHUV DUH YLF- tims of certain situations, whether it’s the pickiness of the market or the price of the good not justifying harvest,” said Jonathan %ORRPDQDXWKRUMRXUQDO- ist and frequent speaker on food waste. “Orders get canceled at the last min- XWHDQGIDUPHUVHDWWKDW product.” Picking crews, transpor- WDWLRQDQGVWRUDJHDUHH[SHQ- sive. Most farmers would rather swallow the cost of an unharvested crop than spend more harvesting what the market will not pay for, %ORRP VD\V 7KLV SUDFWLFH typically called a “walk-by,” is common for contracted acres as well. )DUPHUV RIWHQ DJUHH WR produce a set volume of crop for processors, and these con- WUDFWV FDQ VWLSXODWH ¿QHV RU other harsh penalties for farm- HUV ZKR IDLO WR IXO¿OO WKHP )DUPHUV ZKR ZRUN SULPDULO\ with one or two large buyers face additional pressure to please the market. %XW EHFDXVH QDWXUH LV LQ- herently unpredictable, and drought, pests or labor short- ages can shrink yields, some farmers plant more than they can reasonably hope to sell. “I feel for them,” said Dana Gunders, a NRDC scientist and author of the white paper. “Having a system where cus- tomers buy X number of fan- cy grade apples, rather than a share of the overall crop … leads to waste.” %XW WKH SUREOHP LV DOVR cultural, according to Gun- ders. “Littering is totally unac- ceptable in our society. If you throw an empty potato chip bag on the street, people look at you like you’re crazy,” she VDLG³%XWLI\RXWKURZDIXOO bag of potatoes in the trash, no one thinks a thing of it.” MORE INFO Farmers Ending Hunger Executive Director John Burt 503-931-9232 John@farmersendinghunger.com Post Office Box 7361 Salem, OR 97303 Farmersendinghunger.com Marion Polk Food Share President Rick Gaupo 503-581-3855 mpfs@marionpolkfoodshare.org 1660 Industrial Drive NE Salem, OR 97301 marionpolkfoodshare.org To see a YouTube video interview with food waste expert JoAnne BerkenKamp of the Natural Resources Defense Council, go to: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=sqPVLimfgr8#t=43 Donations feed needy Long imagined as the collectors of dusty tin cans scrounged from the back of the pantry, food banks have evolved in the last two de- cades, putting a new emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables. As their relationship with pro- cessors has changed, farmers themselves have become even PRUH FUXFLDO WR WKH ¿JKW WR end hunger. )DUPHUV (QGLQJ +XQJHU which encourages farmers to “donate an acre” of crops, last year helped growers give more than 2.5 million pounds of wheat, onions, carrots, po- tatoes, beef, sweet corn and green beans to hungry fami- lies across Oregon. It doesn’t hurt that farmers LQ2UHJRQFDQDSSO\IRUDWD[ credit worth 15 percent of the donated food’s value. Similar FUHGLWVH[LVWLQ&RORUDGR&DO- ifornia and Arizona. %XUW WKH H[HFXWLYH GLUHF- tor, said he works with food SURFHVVRU 1253$& WR ¿QG free time on its processing line. A mining company will often donate the raw metal for the cans at a reduced price as well. “The sad fact of life is that the can costs more than the beans that come in it,” he said. 7R GLYHUW H[FHVV FURSV WR feed the needy, gleaner groups have sprouted around the :HVW,Q&DOLIRUQLDWKH)DUP WR )DPLO\ JOHDQHUV UHFRYHU more than 120 million pounds of food a year. Its “concur- rent picking” system directs farm workers to harvest healthful but unmarket- able produce alongside the higher-grade product. The California Association of )RRG %DQNV SD\V IRU WKH additional labor, packing and transportation costs. “Hunger is a problem of distribution, not sup- SO\´ %ORRP WKH DXWKRU said. “We have more than enough food in this coun- try to feed everyone. It’s UHDOO\DTXHVWLRQRI¿QGLQJ the social and political will to eliminate hunger.” Che ck out our web site, astoriasbest.com, for suggested free software. Astoria ’ s Best NETWORK AND COMPUTER SALES, SERVICES & REPAIRS M-F 10-6, Sat 12-5 1020 Commercial #2 503-325-2300 A : JEFFREY M. LEINASSAR DMD, FAGD 503/325-0310 1414 MARINE DRIVE, ASTORIA www.smileastoria.com BRIM’S Farm & Garden 34963 Hwy. 101 Business Astoria • 503 - 325-1562 For beautiful gardens & healthy animals www.brimsfarmngarden.com Don’t cut roses back so hard, now that they don’t have good cold resistance. Do take out the lighter tips and extra long branches that are prone to breaking in storms. Perennials also need a light cleanup now, but be especially careful not to take too much off lavendars, rosemary, lavatera and cistus, to name a few. A light “buzz cut” to remove spent blooms and make the plants more compact will help plants hold up in winter storms. It’s okay to leave some blooms for the birds on sedum, rudbeckia and echinacea. A one-inch layer of compost will give the garden a layer of feed and insulation that will carry your plants into next spring. 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D evonna E d w ard s CADC II Entry-level Customer Service Representative A : am interested in Q: I changing the shape of Gleaners help At the blueberry farm, %DXPDQVWRSVWRFKDWZLWK &DUROH %ROLRX D 0DULRQ County coordinator for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Wom- en, Infants and Children, popularly known by the ini- tials WIC. %ROLRX VD\V 6DOHP +DU- vest can help overcome the “shame factor” some clients feel when asking for aid. “You have people out here who may not qualify for any benefits working alongside people who may not have any income com- ing in at all. And there’s no stigma,” she said. “They’re working together to give back to the community.” That’s Salem Harvest’s JRDOWRR7KHQRQSUR¿W\LHOG- ed 294,000 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables to the Marion-Polk network of food banks last year. The 41 gleaners present were there because the farm- ers, who employ an automat- ed over-the-row harvester on most of the blueberry crop, cannot use the machine on the rows planted between the poles that support bird-proof netting. ³,W¶VVDG)URPIDUPWRWD- ble — the amount of food that gets wasted — it’s an astound- ingly high number. It doesn’t even leave the farm before JHWWLQJ WRVVHG´ %DXPDQ said. “So often we’ll go out there with as much manpow- er as we can muster, and not touch even half or a quarter of what’s out there.” Staff writer Eric Morten- son contributed to this story. He reported from St. Louis, Mo., and Portland. “Pictures” folders that are in Windows 7? Forum For more information about the Columbia Forum contact: HOLLY LARKINS at 503-325-3211 x 227 or by email: forum@dailyastorian.com 949 EXCHANGE ST. P.O. BOX 21 ASTORIA, OR 97103 A : A problem gambler may gamble frequently or infrequently. If a person’s gambling is causing psychological, financial, emotional, marital, legal, or other difficulties for that person and the people around him or her, then he or she has a gambling problem. Call CBH and talk to someone now at 503-325-5722. Over One Million Americans Have a Problem With Gambling...You Are Not Alone! happens Q: What at a Columbia Forum gathering? A : We gather for conversation and delicious appetizers at 6pm. By 6:30, the dinner is ready. At 7:15 the speaker is introduced, and we often finish by 8pm. But if the speaker and audience are especially engaged, we might go until 9pm.