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DAVOS, Switzerland — The
The Rockefeller Foundation plans to announce here on Thursday that it is kicking off a $130 million initiative to reduce food waste around the world. The wide-ranging plan will stretch from thrown-out crops to excess food at the dinner table.
The century-old foundation, which has already taken on challenges like making cities more “resilient” to the challenges of the 21st century, has estimated that food waste represents a $1 trillion drain on the global economy, stretching from farmers in developing countries to multinational corporations.
And that amount of wasted food, the foundation believes, could feed more than 1.5 billion people. From the Rockefeller Foundation’s cause alone, the no-waste movement has gained momentum lately and was a topic of discussion at the United Nations global climate conference late last year outside Paris.
“The idea is that if you could really reduce food waste across the value chain, you could feed people across the planet,” Judith Rodin, the foundation’s president, said in an interview here. “This is a people play, a profits play and a planet play.”
The idea for the initiative arose from conversations with the president of Iceland about six to seven years ago, Ms. Rodin said. Fishermen from that country complained that they were needlessly trashing countless fish heads, bones and tails when such grist could instead be sold to African countries where the pieces are prized for soup.
That led to discussions about how to clamp down on waste across the spectrum of food production and consumption, which were further spurred by the World Economic Forum’s focus on issues like food security.
To carry out the initiative, the Rockefeller Foundation plans to enlist companies and governments to roll out a series of waste-reduction programs. Much of the focus will be on the developing world, where making fuller use of food could have a big impact.
Ms. Rodin estimated that up to 40 percent of crops in developing countries are lost before they make it to market. Small farmers could band together to improve their negotiating power with customers, she said, and they could benefit from sharing technologies that improve the longevity of their harvests.
The Rockefeller Foundation has already begun working with private sector partners in Africa, including Coca-Cola and mango farmers in Kenya, and the West African conglomerate Dangote Group for its tomato orders in Nigeria.
Another element of the initiative, Ms. Rodin said, would include developing secondary markets for farmers who can sell perfectly edible but less-than-perfect crops, rather than throwing them out — the so-called ugly food movement, which some entrepreneurial companies have already started to pursue. The foundation will also try to encourage investment funds to support farmer’s initiatives.
The players most easy to persuade to participate could be big companies that are already clamping down on waste that creates millions of dollars in unnecessary costs.
“Here, we have been pushing against an open door,” Ms. Rodin said.
