In today’s world of food insecurity, aren’t we placing too great of an emphasis on the aesthetic appeal of produce rather than nutritional value? Ugly produce is the champion of this conundrum. Ugly produce are imperfect fruits and vegetables that are left to rot in landfills because of their irregular shapes, sizes, or blemishes. Embracing ugly produce would be key in making strides towards sustainability.
I believe it is important to dissect how the issue of ugly produce came to be in our country. As we all know, the agriculture industry was dominated by farms and fresh crops. However, as technology advanced, Americans had less of a need to purchase directly from the local farm as food storage improved with refrigerators. Highways allowed for food to be distributed far from its source and people began going to supermarkets. As the food industry advanced with factories and machinery to handle food, the food that was produced was more uniform in shape and size in order to be more efficiently packed and distributed. As Americans got used to this “normalcy”, they began to frown at the foods that were off from their specifications.
Let’s go into the numbers that prove why the issue of ugly produce needs to be addressed immediately. It is estimated that every year 2.9 trillion pounds of food, equivalent to around a third of all the food produced, is being discarded, enough to feed more than the 800 million hungry people in the world. The problem seems to lie mainly with us Americans and those from other medium to high income countries. An astonishing estimated 40% of food in the United States is left to go to waste. Although this does account for a staggering economic loss- 165 billion dollars a year, to be exact- it more importantly is responsible for a huge amount of emissions due to rotting in landfills. Food releases methane when it decomposes and decomposing food in landfills is responsible for around 10% of total greenhouse gasses. The surplus produce industry could avert around 273,000 metric tons of CO2 per year which is equivalent to that of the emissions of around 60,000 cars.
What stumps me is that people do not eat food just because it may happen to be shaped slightly differently from its counterparts. The truth is that misshapen and “ugly” produce still provides the same nutritional benefits as the normally looking produce. Essential vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals that are present in normal produce are still present in ugly produce. Recognizing that ugly produce can still provide the same benefits is a crucial step in removing the stigma around ugly produce. Once this stigma gets dropped, people will hopefully stop trashing their imperfect food and prevent their methane emissions from decomposition.
Driving ugly produce into the markets can have its own benefits. Ugly produce can benefit those who are not otherwise able to afford fresh and nutritious food. Rather than being wasted, if ugly produce manages to find its way into local markets and stores, access to healthy foods for all socioeconomic backgrounds would be improved. This also opens the door to new initiatives in supermarkets such as ugly produce subscriptions or discounted supermarket sections housing ugly produce. Entering ugly produce into large-scale markets will allow for the fight against food waste, dramatically reducing the amount of methane emissions into the atmosphere.
Another benefit is that farmers and their respective local economies would be supported. Farmers benefit from the extended market as imperfect fruits and vegetables are able to make their way to the kitchens of families across the country. Additionally, if farmers know that their ugly produce is marketable, they are able to prioritize more sustainable agriculture practices rather than having to fit the standard cosmetic appearances that supermarkets now tend to hold.
By recognizing the nutritional value, affordability, various economic benefits to the agriculture industry, and, most importantly, contribution to reducing methane emissions, imperfect fruits and vegetables can make a significant difference on the well-being of our planet and its people. Embracing ugly produce opens up new avenues to farmers with new markets and challenges the futile stigma around cosmetic perfection for produce. Rescuing ugly produce from the grasp of this stigma will allow for a huge push towards sustainability in the agriculture and food sectors.
Works Cited
“Ugly Produce Problem.” Ugly Produce Is Beautiful!, 2017, http://www.uglyproduceisbeautiful.com/ugly-produce-problem.html#:~:text=Or%20harvested%20and%20remain%20unsold.Yoder, Kate. “How Do You Really Know the Produce a Company Says It “Saves” Would Have Gone to Waste?” Grist, 31 May 2022, grist.org/food/ugly-produce-industry-faces-an-ugly-question-full-harvest-verified-resuced/. Accessed 1 June 2023.
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