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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 2016)
10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 Food recovery hierarchy The Environmental Protection Agency recommends its food recovery hierarchy model, where the first preference is to eliminate food waste at the source. The least preferred method is the use of incinerators and landfills, although impacts can be mitigated if energy is created as a by-product of this practice. ed err ref st p Mo Source reduction Feed hungry people Feed animals Industrial uses Composting Sources: USDA ERS; EPA ed err ref st p Lea Incineration/ landfill Capital Press graphic Ugly food: 30 to 40 percent of food in US is wasted Continued from Page 1A Lutz said I’m Perfect apples will likely sell for roughly half the cost of unblemished fruit, but the return will still be far superior to making juice, which pays about $50 per ton. By comparison, the August return to fi rst handlers at Wenatchee was $19 to $22 for a 40-pound box of the largest size of top-quality red deli- cious apples, according to the U.S. Department of Agri- culture . A ton of those same apples, blemished and mar- keted as “ugly,” could still fetch up to $550, assuming half the usual rate of return. Lutz emphasized I’m Per- fect will fi ll a small and sea- sonal niche, offered mainly around harvest time, and CMI will have to be “very strategic in how we use the program” to reach new consumers rather than having existing buyers “shift down.” Wal mart offi cials learned of I’m Perfect when they were reviewing programs at CMI earlier this year and “got very excited about it,” Lutz said. About a month ago, Wal mart bought a small quan- tity of scuffed 2015 Granny Smith apples and quickly sold out. He anticipates one of this season’s hail-damaged orchards will yield 30,000 boxes of I’m Perfect fruit. In a July blog posting, Wal mart offi cials also referred to their new Spuglies brand of ugly potatoes — weather-dam- aged russets raised in Texas — and the “Wonky” vegetable program at Wal mart’s Great Britain outlet, Asda. “What excites me the most about the launch of these I’m Perfect apples is that it is a result of working with our sup- pliers to build the infrastruc- ture and processes that cre- ate a new home for perfectly imperfect produce,” Shawn Baldwin, Wal mart’s senior vice president of global food sourcing, produce and fl o- ral, said in the blog. “Because ugly produce can occur unex- pectedly in any growing sea- son or crop, we want to have the systems in place to offer this type of produce whenever it may occur.” Food crusader Jordan Figueiredo is on a mission. His goal is to feed more people with the ugly food that many grocers reject. In his free time, Figueiredo, of Castro Valley, California , a suburb of San Francisco, is an anti-food waste crusader with 140,000 social media fol- lowers, blogging about strat- egies such as state-funding to cover farmers’ labor costs to pick and pack ugly produce for food banks. In 2014, Figueiredo orga- nized Feeding the 5,000 in Oakland — a free public meal made with food that would have otherwise gone to waste. “We gave away 9,000 pounds of produce, stuff that was rejected by grocers,” Figueiredo said. “Since then, I’ve been hooked on ugly food.” Figueiredo started online petitions encouraging Whole Foods, of Austin, Texas, and Wal mart to test ugly food. Both companies subsequently announced pilot projects. Figueiredo points to USDA statistics as evidence of the scope of the food waste prob- lem. The agency estimates 30 to 40 percent of food in the U.S. is wasted. Wasted food is also the largest category of garbage dumped in landfi lls, according to USDA. Yet the World Food Pro- gram estimates 795 million people in the world are under- nourished, and 45 percent of the deaths of children under age 5 result from malnutrition. Even in the U.S., 14 percent of households were described as “food insecure” due to poor access to adequate nutrition in 2014, according to USDA. Of the estimated 48.1 million food insecure Americans, 15.3 million were children. “It’s a social outrage that so many people are food insecure and we’re throwing away so much good food,” Figueiredo said. But lately, he’s also noticed progress. In September , USDA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a national goal of working with state and local govern- ments to reduce food waste in half by 2030. “Almost 90 percent of Americans aren’t eating fi ve recommended servings of fruits and vegetables per day,” Figueiredo said. “You can get cheaper produce that’s still fresh and good to folks who normally wouldn’t be able to buy it.” Ministry: Local churchgoers modeled Continued from Page 1A theme of “Recycle, Reuse and Re-love,” while simulta- neously symbolizing the par- ish’s faith in the holy trinity, Lambert said. After the parish’s annual rummage sale in July, the w om- en’s m inistry took select items from among the leftovers and set to work repairing and redec- orating them for inclusion in the silent auction. Some of the items, like many of the clothes, kept their original function but were updated into contemporary styles with new trim, bead work and other ornamenta- tion. Some of the items got new purposes entirely thanks to the volunteers’ collective “creative mind,” said fash- ion show coordinator Marilyn Sanbrailo. “We try to think of how we can make things different,” Lambert agreed. Julie MacLean models a cashmere coat during the R3 Fashion Show, Silent Auction & Sweet Treats. Katherine Lacaze For The Daily Astorian Volunteer models Volunteer models came from several local churches and organizations, including the Seaside branch of P.E.O., a philanthropic organization for women; Cannon Beach Com- munity Church; the Sou’Wester Garden Club; Our Lady of Vic- tory/St. Peter the Fisherman’s y outh m inistry; and others. Attendees bid on the clothing items modeled during the fash- ion show. In addition to the fash- ion show, the event featured a live auction for four handmade quilts designed by local artists, including Lynda Newell, who created a piece titled, “Poppies.” “The real mission is not just for our church, the Catho- lic church, but all our churches to focus on children,” Lambert said, emphasizing the impor- tance of making them feel val- ued and needed as part of the community. “If our churches work together to build a youth program, we’ll all benefi t.” Miss Oregon: Mather’s stage talent is singing Continued from Page 1A Since she won the state title in July, Mather has been rushed to Washington, D.C.; Orlando, Florida; and all around Ore- gon for events. Now, she is in Atlantic City, New Jersey, for the Miss America competition, her moment in the national spotlight. “Sometimes, I feel like I live out of my car,” she laughed during an interview in August. The last several weeks have involved multiple trips between Portland and Astoria for fi nal touches on hair coloring, mock judge panels and appearing at events. Stepping into the spotlight and traveling around the coun- try means that Miss Oregon has to give up some freedoms . The main sacrifi ce being her social time with friends . But for Mather, the dream of com- peting at the national level is worth it. “You learn who your real friends are when they realize you’re busy all the time,” she said. Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Alexis Mather performs opera during the Miss Oregon pageant. Musical interlude Practicing singing has also taken up a large part of the time in between the contests. “I’ll go to an event not expecting to sing and they’ll ask me if I can do the national anthem,” Mather said. Singing has been Mather’s stage talent since she began competing . For tuneups, she has performed at Volcanoes minor league baseball games in Salem and at the Regatta Queen coronation in August . Mather will perform “The Queen of the Night,” a chal- lenging German opera from the Mozart aria “The Magic Flute ” at Miss America. For training, she has also met with Miss America 2002 Katie Harman Ebner. The for- mer Miss Oregon and now professional performer and voice coach also sang opera when she won the national title . “What makes opera dif- ferent than other vocal art is it takes kinesthetic to create a certain pitch,” Ebner said . “This is a very special- ized job that Alexis really understands. ” No matter the outcome in New Jersey — where the fi nals are Sunday — Mather will take a year off from Port- land State University where she is majoring in psychol- ogy. She will continue to make appearances around the state and possibly internation- ally. Miss Oregon 2015 Ali Wallace visited Japan during her year as a dignitary to pro- mote Oregon’s agricultural products. Mather has had her sights set on this crown since she went to her fi rst Miss Ore- gon contest at 10 years old. She then began to compete in pageants like Miss Clat- sop County and the Regatta Court. She has not looked back since. “This is a time for me to compete. I’ll have the rest of my life afterwards to hang out with my friends,” she said. Ugly is good Blackfoot, Idaho, produce farmer Richard Johnson has found the public is far more accepting of ugly produce if it comes from a familiar, local source. At farmers’ mar- kets, Johnson mixes ugly pro- duce with his top-quality fruits and vegetables and offers no discount. Most of it sells, and he donates anything left over to the local food bank. Johnson said when grocers buy produce, they may turn away as much as 40 percent of a farmer’s production for purely cosmetic reasons. “Too much of our food we don’t use to its full potential because of some standards that say, ‘This is Grade-A quality,’” Johnson said. Some ugly food sellers go straight where they are needed most. In Cleveland, wholesale produce suppliers Ashley and Andy Weingart have con- tracted with a courier service to deliver ugly fruits and vege- tables to households in a desig- nated food desert. They mark down the produce by about 40 percent, but they empha- size they couldn’t sell it oth- erwise, and the program fi lls a community service, providing fresh produce to low-income households. The ugly food deliveries started in May and now reach about two dozen customers. Andy Weingart anticipates working with farmers to har- vest more of their ugly crops as demand grows. “The idea is to reach out to some growers so instead of plowing those (ugly) items in the fi eld, to convince them there is still demand for those items,” Andy Weingart said. “It’s a shame so much of our business has to be No. 1 qual- ity, or top-shelf.” Time and money. We give you both. You’ll notice the difference. Find out more at columbiabank.com or call 877-272-3678. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender We listen to you and your business needs—then tailor a loan that fits. Our loans are custom-made, not mass-produced. Every business is different, so rest assured your Columbia Bank loan will be designed specifically to your needs, your business, and for you.
