Money saving - not buying food to throw away!

rygon

geordie_joe wrote: »

If what you say is true then we are producing for more fruit and veg than we need if we can reject all but the best and there still not being a shortage.

I have not seen a shortage of spuds because a huge proportion of them have been left in the fields.

Far from it being the consumers who are causing the waste, it's the farmers who are growing too much.

If we all decided to buy the odd shaped veg etc. then all the perfect veg would be left in the fields to rot. And we would still have the same amount of waste.

Thats a strange way of thinking At a totally random guess i reckon the farmers are growing more than needed as they know its not all going to be perfect. So the more you can plant the more that is going to be sold.

geordie_joe

rygon wrote: »

Thats a strange way of thinking

I don't think so, if the farmers can't sell all their crops it is because they have grown too much.

If they grow 10 tons of spuds and the buyers only need 8 tons then they are going to have a 2 ton surplus. Of course the buyers will pick out the best 8 tons, but that is irrelevant.

Supermarkets and shops only buy what they need, and even then they often have to reduce some of it to sell it, or even throw it away as they couldn't sell it.

rygon wrote: »

At a totally random guess i reckon the farmers are growing more than needed as they know its not all going to be perfect. So the more you can plant the more that is going to be sold.

That's a possibility, but I don't agree with "So the more you can plant the more that is going to be sold". People can only buy/eat so much produce therefore supermarkets can only sell so much. Growing more won't make anyone buy or eat more, as proved in the fact that farmers are leaving crops to rot.

A supermarket, or greengrocer will buy "2nd class" produce if they have to, as they would rather sell some second class produce than sell none.

Every years farmers all over Europe grow far too much food because they are given subsidies to do it.

Back in the eighties farmers had produced so much beef we had a mountain of surplus beef which the eu had subsidized (bought from the farmers because no body else wanted to buy it). In the end this "mountain" got so big they had to resort to giving away the beef.

paddy's_mum

I'm afraid that I totally agree with rygon over this particular question. Day by day, I see with my own eyes the results of the average British shopper's unreasonable demand that "only the best is good enough". It is the direct cause of a tremendous amount of waste in this country, and similarly throughout most of Europe.

If a farmer knows that he will be unable to sell anything that is less than perfect, he will simply not bother to harvest anything that falls slightly below the standard sought. The result, quite simply, is that much never leaves the field.

I accept that many supermarkets have Value products (seconds) but you have only to stand at the veg counter for a few minutes to see how many people just ignore anything less than perfection. No doubt (forgive my cynicism) these are the same people who then complain at the cost of living but will they put in the few minutes extra work that it needs to prepare less-than-perfect produce?

Geordie Joe made the point (quite rightly) that "grocers will buy 2nd class produce if they have to". The point is that they rarely do as they accept that they are far less likely to be able to sell it. All the time that customers happily pay a premium for perfection, the grocers don't have to. That is why I say that this whole stupidity is driven purely by the consumer.

I accept that there was some major political stupidity - butter and beef mountains - but it is an economic fact of life that many farmers in this region grow more than would be needed (if the customer was not so picky) simply to be able to harvest enough to earn from their land.

May I suggest that Geordie Joe spend a long weekend in this region, say next September, see the waste with his own eyes, speak to the workers and find out for himself just what colossal stupidity is being practised in this country.

It is being driven by the consumer - waste and prices would drop almost overnight if more customers asked their local supermarket to stock more "seconds" whose food value, incidentally, is in no way diminished by being less than the perfect shape.

I'm all for a good debate and mean no disrespect to Geordie Joe but unfortunately, the evidence of my own eyes persuades me more than anybody's viewpoint, however politely put or fervently held.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

its a known fact that supermarkets are demanding a certain criteria.. when it comes to shape...colour......size.... weight on fruit and veg... they even have computerised machines to work out the % of redness on a certain type of apple and if it hasnt got x amount of redness it gets refused....

the supermarkets are generating a generation of consumers that they think if its not perfect to the eye then its NOT perfect to eat

the world has gone to be a throw away society and that goes for food as well .....

geordie_joe

paddy's_mum wrote: »

I'm all for a good debate and mean no disrespect to Geordie Joe but unfortunately, the evidence of my own eyes persuades me more than anybody's viewpoint, however politely put or fervently held.

I'm not disputing what you see, I know farmers grow far too much produce. But I am disputing the reason.

Ignore the actual figures, and imagine I am referring to every farmer when I say 'the farmer'.

You say a farmer grows 10 tons of veg because he knows the supermarket will take the best 6 tons and reject the other 4 tons as not being perfect.

But the supermarket can only do that because the farmer gives them the choice. If he only grew 6 tons in the first place the supermarket would be forced to take it. If they didn't then they would run out of produce to sell and the customers wouldn't be happy.

People, when picking loose fruit and veg will always pick the ones they think are the best of the bunch. Most of the time they are buying it because they need it, and if they do their shopping to late they are left with the produce the early shopper rejected. This doesn't matter too much as they would still buy it, unless it is really bad.

I really don't see how you can blame consumers for the wasted produce a farmer has just because he has deliberately grown too much in order to allow them to pick the best and reject any they don't like the look of.

You wouldn't roast 3 chickens on a Sunday just so your family could pick the best one and bin the other two, would you?

Also a lot of "2nd class" produce goes to make tinned and ready meals etc. A carrot can be manky at one end, but the good bit ends up in a tin of sliced carrots.

The fact is, farmers produce too much and the process starts with them planting the seeds. It does not start with the consumer saying they won't buy it if it is not good enough.

CCCele

That 30% includes things like bananas and potatoes. You waste about 20% of a banana when you eat it, unless you eat the skin. Same thing if you peel potatoes or throw away an apple core, that's counted as waste.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

geordie_joe wrote: »

But the supermarket can only do that because the farmer gives them the choice. If he only grew 6 tons in the first place the supermarket would be forced to take it. If they didn't then they would run out of produce to sell and the customers wouldn't be happy.

sorry but got to totally disagree with you.....its the supermarkets dictating to the farmers... and the farmers have got to grow far more than they need.. as it is the % game..... that a % of the produce will fit the supermarkets criteria.....

if the criteria is not met by the british farmers.. the supermarket then go abroad...

this is why when a fruit/veg is in season in britain..you will also see the same produce imported from a foreign country.....and at the same time the same product is rotting in the british farmers field... because it might be slightly the wrong shape.. or slightly the wrong colour.... etc...

yes a % of these products are sold on, and you see them in markets etc... but by this time there is a huge glut of the same product....

hope all that made sense.....

geordie_joe

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

hope all that made sense.....

Yes, but it is still the farmers who are allowing the supermarkets to dictate. All you have said is that overseas farmers are doing the same as UK ones, growing too much so the supermarkets, and ultimately the consumer, can pick and choose.

Remember I said that I was referring to every farmer when I say "the farmer". Well include overseas farmers in that and it's just the same.

The farmers (worldwide) are producing too much so that the supermarkets can pick the best, then complaining they only pick the best!

You can't give people a choice then complain when they take it!

affordmylife

Ive never known a supermarket to sell packaged fruit and veg cheaper than loose.

I always buy loose cos it is cheaper and you can pick what you want.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

i can see where you are coming from.. but for the farmers to call the shots.. this would have to be a world wide thing......but at the end of the day supermarkets are a very powerfull organisation lets take tescos for instance..... they are literly changing the way we sho.... the way we think about products.. .and they are also changing the shape of the country as in shopping habbits.. big hypermarkets... etc......they sell mobile phones ..insurance.. they are now even selling houses....

what i am trying to get shopping habbits have changed and the majority of people shop in one of the big 4 supermarkets.. so they do have the power to do what ever they want when it comes to buying and choosing products.....
and the poor farmers.....thats why smaller farmers have gone to the wall... same as milk the amount of dairy herds we have lost over the last few years..... becuase they have been squeezed etc..... there is now a shortage of milk etc so now there is a lot of imported milk and dairy products...