Tomato waste at rotten levels as up to 84 pc of crops left in field due to supermarket demands....
Supermarket demands for unblemished fruit has led to a high level of waste in the tomato industry,
70-84 per cent of undamaged, edible tomatoes are being left in the field because they do not meet retailers' expectations.
Between 70-84 per cent of produced tomatoes are left in the field,
Australian households, cafes and restaurants throw out more than 4 million tonnes of food each year enough to feed 60 million people at a cost to the economy of about $20 billion.
At the same time, charities are turning away more than 43,000 Australians each month who are in need of help,
What are your thoughts on this waste ???
K.J.
-- Edited by kiwijims on Friday 13th of October 2017 06:53:45 PM
When we lived in Bowen, you would see them left on the ground as they weren't supermarket friendly. Go to Big Red or The Farmhouse and buy boxes of them as well as capsicum, eggplant and other veges, cheap as and tasty.
It just shows me, that as a member of the human race
We are not as smart, as we think we are
In some parts of the world, we have people starving, while in other parts, we see food being ploughed back into the ground
In my area, I know of apples being ploughed back into the ground
It just shows me, that as a member of the human race
We are not as smart, as we think we are
In some parts of the world, we have people starving, while in other parts, we see food being ploughed back into the ground In my area, I know of apples being ploughed back into the ground
Gday...
Actually, if you read the article at the link above, you will see that there is also huge amounts of wastage in those "parts of the world" as well as ours.
Human race ... it has always seemed to me that the human race is an aberration on this planet .... it is like we should never have been here.
.... but having said that, if one spends the time researching and understanding the indigenous races of the world they did not cause any of the problems our 'progress' has caused. They could only lived in numbers that the earth (their environment) could support.
No globalisation in their world.
Cheers - John
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2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE Auto - 2008 23ft Golden Eagle Hunter Some people feel the rain - the others just get wet - Bob Dylan
At least Woolworths have started selling "The Odd Bunch" - fruit that is not quite perfect, not the right size.
Look for these bags in the Fruit & Vege section & buy them. This can only encourage them (Woolworths) to keep buying this fruit.
There is another cause too - having enough pickers to take the fruit off. Backpackers are a blessing to farmers in NQ - a lot of Aussies aren't interested.
Warren
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
It just shows me, that as a member of the human race
We are not as smart, as we think we are
In some parts of the world, we have people starving, while in other parts, we see food being ploughed back into the ground In my area, I know of apples being ploughed back into the ground
Gday...
Actually, if you read the article at the link above, you will see that there is also huge amounts of wastage in those "parts of the world" as well as ours.
Human race ... it has always seemed to me that the human race is an aberration on this planet .... it is like we should never have been here.
.... but having said that, if one spends the time researching and understanding the indigenous races of the world they did not cause any of the problems our 'progress' has caused. They could only lived in numbers that the earth (their environment) could support.
No globalisation in their world.
Cheers - John
Yes I read the article, John So thanks for that link
My reason/opinion/argument/theory/etc, for saying that mankind is not very smart, (this does include myself) Is that without getting the thread banned for using piliticil speak
There is an imbalance not only between countries, but also people within countries, and this is why some of us eat a lot better than others
There are obviously as many reasons, as opinions, of why we have this imbalance within the human race, and why some people are starving I do remember reading that in the darkest days of Uganda, when there was no longer any food in the shops, you could still buy food on the black market, if you had enough coin
At the very top of my list, is that the leaders of most countries, are either short sighted, only there to feather their own nest, or just not smart enough to see they could, if they wanted, change the course of history, to actually give all mankind a better deal
But all may not be doom and gloom
I read somewhere that the Chinese have started to grow a crop called amaranth, as a fodder crop, they believe that the population will increase by another 3˝ billion by 2050 They realise that if we keep using grain style human feed as fodder for animals, there will not be enough grain style food for humans, so I say good on them
I read somewhere that they were growing trees in some South African countries, to stabilise the crop growing lands, so I say good on them also
On the other side of the coin, I remember reading that some economist somewhere, have said that as the Chinese population grows, we will be able to sell them hay, as animal fodder
This is number two on my list, of why mankind is not very smart, economists able to turn fickle leaders, to look at the future through the almighty dollar, and not the human value of helping others
I will assume John, that you would have read enough of my posts, to realise that I do not take offence, or deliberately give offence to others I have certainly read enough of your posts to realise, that you do not give offence to others
I recall many years back, while working in a large apple canning factory in N.Z.
I saw tons of over-sized apples going to waste, being left for Pig food as the apples were too large for processing,
Being in a C.B. Radio Group at the time, I thought maybe the old folks around town would like some of these apples for free,
I called a meeting of the Group and we had a dozen volunteers with trailers fired up ready to give the apples away, we did this through working with the local radio station who ( after getting a large bag of free apples ) were only too happy to keep plugging our effort all day, we stationed trailers at various points through-out the City where people ( Pensioners ) could come and help themselves, There was only one draw back to doing this, that was, we had permission from the Canning factory Management to take the apples as long as no one got to know where they came from, this became an issue when a nosey newspaper reporter started to ask some awkward questions,luckily, we had thought of this happening before hand and had an answer waiting for the reporter, that was, the apples were Wind Falls, collected by us from an Orchard out of town.Towards the end of the day we had given away 7 trailer loads of apples, but they still came for more !!! I had a quick word with the group and decided to go and get one more trailer load from the factory which was only a couple of k's away, the only trouble was that the darned reporter was still sniffing around, we had to come up with a plan in a hurry,Simple said one of the Members, he then went to his car and saying in a loud voice, " I'll go and get some more" the reporter hearing this made a dive for her car and was led off in one direction, while I took off in the other, By the time the reporter returned, I was also back with the loaded trailer, You should have seen the look on the reporters face, knowing darn well that there was no way I could have been out to the Orchard , loaded the trailer, and returned in that time, she never did find out where the apples came from. K.J.
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From Coast to Coast, We'll see it all.......One Day
I buy regularly from Woolies odd bunch shelves. There is nothing wrong with them, might be a bit out of shape, that's all.
Kilo of tomatoes less than half the price of the perfect ones.
Quite a good variety to choose from as well.
... and it ain't jest aussie marters mate 
