For many Americans, food consumption is so ingrained in our existence that we think very little about it. Similar to how one does not ponder the complexities of the lungs each time we take a breath, one does not ponder the supply chain of food production each time one takes a bite. It takes a moment of ill health, where breaths do not come easily, to think of exactly what is going on out of sight.
A similar moment has arisen with food production in the United States. According to a Wall Street Journal article, more than 43 million gallons of milk have been dumped in some manner or another from January through August in 2016. The article outlined how farmers disposed of the excess through dumping “in fields, manure lagoons or animal feed, or have been lost on truck routes or discarded at plants.” To further clarify exactly how much 43 million gallons actually is, think of 66 Olympic swimming pools of milk.
The issue of food waste is not one to be ignored. To dump viable food in manure lagoons is inexcusable. That being said, a moment like this is important to highlight the flaws within our food production and distribution process in the United States.
Food does not become illegitimate if it lacks a buying customer and there are other ways to repurpose unwanted food. French supermarket giant Intermarché launched its “Inglòrious fruits and vegetables” campaign last year, encouraging consumers to purchase disfigured and therefore “less desirable” produce, even prominently displaying the bizarre produce. The campaign was well-received, even selling the produce at a discounted price which not only fought food waste but encouraged healthier eating.
Initiatives like this remind us as consumers that there is always a choice when it comes to consumption. We have the ability to select what we buy and eat, and we must do so selectively. The massive scale on which food is produced was displayed front and center in The New York Times magazine this week, the Food Issue, published Sunday. George Steinmetz captured “The Dizzying Grandeur of 21st-Century Agriculture,” which did just that while also causing the reader to question how there is possibly an issue of hunger in our nation. Our nation, which dumps 43 million gallons of milk, produces 3.5 million pounds of cranberries at one farm alone and processes 25 million pounds of carrots per week at only one plant, has an issue with hungry citizens. This fact is simultaneously astonishing and repulsive.
However, farmers alone are not to blame for the waste. Economically, we have put ourselves here. Two years ago, our nation experienced a food shortage, causing prices to skyrocket and encouraging increased production in response, as explained in the WSJ article. Now, we are producing far more than necessary, causing prices to fall as farmers can’t even afford to transport the milk. Thus, the dumping.
Though the USDA has stepped in and producers are making an effort to repurpose the product, more must be done. Buying $20 million in cheddar cheese, as the USDA pledged to do on Tuesday, is a short-term fix. A deeper examination of food consumption and production in our country is needed, and it starts with us.
As students, we consume a massive amount of food. If you look at the sheer geographic space students take up in Boston, the amount of food we go through is only imaginable. At Boston University, we are lucky enough to have dining services that cares about the sourcing of our food, through partnerships with local farms and distributers. BU Dining Services has also been composting in the George Sherman Union since 2010.
We’re lucky enough to have sustainability@BU, a major campus initiative that fights to end travesties like this each day while keeping administrative officials aware of potential waste.
However, there is always room for improvement. We do not need a moment that takes our breath away to question where our food is coming from and going.
