What percentage of the food produced in Canada is lost or wasted each year?

food system influences

Food systems affect every aspect of life. The food system starts with agriculture – where plants are grown, and livestock is raised, for food. It ends with the waste that results when that food is consumed. The middle of the food system focuses on what happens between the farm and the table and is influenced by the choices people make about what and where they look for in the food that they consume.

The infographics from Agriculture in the Classroom Canada below provide some insight into factors that influence local and organic food production.

Find out more about locally produced food at https://aitc-canada.ca/en-ca/learn-about-agriculture/sheet/eating-local.

Find out more about organic farming at https://aitc-canada.ca/en-ca/learn-about-agriculture/sheet/organic-farming.

What two differences can you identify between locally produced food and organic farming?

more about eating local

more about organic farming

waste and the food system

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, both food loss and food waste are important challenges for all food systems.

Food loss refers to food that is lost somewhere between the producer and the market. For example, if crops are not properly stored, handled and protected from pests, their quality can be affected and the crop cannot be sold.

Food waste is food that is discarded or disposed of by retail markets, food service providers and consumers. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s research estimates that a third of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste.  Food can be wasted in several ways.

• Food that is not considered to be desirable, because of factors like their size, shape or colour
• Foods that are close to or past their “best-before” dates
• Food that is left over and discarded in households, restaurants or other food service places

Find an interactive animated infographic on food waste from North American Initiatives on Food and Organic Waste at www.cec.org/files/fwinteractive/index-en.html.

What strategies can you brainstorm that could reduce or prevent food waste?

Some information and the food loss and waste images from  United Nations: Technical Platform on the Measurement and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste. Food and Agriculture Organization: Online. www.fao.org/platform-food-loss-waste/en/

more about food waste

Consider the food waste infographic below from Agriculture in the Classroom Canada. Find out more at https://aitc-canada.ca/en-ca/learn-about-agriculture/sheet/food-waste.

In what ways do you think food loss and waste is minimized in different types of food systems – such as local, traditional, organic and sustainable? What practices do you think these food systems use to work on decreasing food loss and waste?

Infographics provided by Agriculture in the Classroom Canada.