The NFU has announced its support for the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap and is encouraging its members to play their part in tackling food waste in the supply chain.

Farmers were surveyed by WRAP earlier in the year & the research revealed that there was an average 10-16 per cent food wastage in typical years, equal to around 22,000 to 37,000 tonnes: enough food to provide 150,000 to 250,000 people with five portions of fruit and vegetables a day for a whole year, about the same as the whole population of Wolverhampton.

The new initiative, run by the charities Wrap and IGD, aims to have 50% of the UK’s largest 250 food businesses measuring, reporting and acting on food waste by 2019. It is working towards milestones to help halve UK food waste by 2030.

NFU President Minette Batters said: “This is an incredibly important initiative by Wrap and IGD, and the NFU is very pleased to be able to support it. Farmers are the first step in the supply chain, producing the raw ingredients that make up the safe, traceable and affordable domestic food supply that helps to feed the nation.

“As food producers, farmers and growers have a clear role to play in this effort and it is encouraging to see many of our members already committing to cutting food waste in their businesses.

“It’s very clear that a whole supply chain effort is required to effectively reduce our food waste and it is incredibly positive to see the entirety of the industry throw its weight behind this initiative.

“We are already seeing a lot of innovative work from retailers to utilise as much produce as possible, for example ‘wonky veg’ ranges in supermarkets which have proved popular with shoppers. The NFU is committed to sustainability and transparency, and will continue to engage with the industry to address the food waste challenge.”

Many farm businesses have already committed to reducing their food waste and are actively introducing measures to achieve ambitious food waste targets. NFU member G’s Fresh is one example of a food business which has supported ambitious food waste targets. 

Jacob Kirwan, Precision Farming and CSR Manager for G’s, said: “G’s is proud to be a key part in this collective ambition to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030, and we hope that other growers and producers will join the commitment of ‘Target, Measure, Act’ to help accelerate the achievement.”