Sloppy eaters

I have a 10 month old Holstein calf named "Calfy 1." For some reason, he is a terrible eater. He scoops feed into his mouth until it is completely full, and then tosses it in the air. Almost 1/3 hits the ground...luckily we have 3 other calves that are willing to pick up after him!

Human beings are just as wasteful. As an ag. economist, we often focus on increasing production - which we have been quite successful at, and it makes a lot of sense.

However, we also must consider production loss.

Each year, 1.3 billion tonnes of food produced in the world is wasted, either in production or consumption (FAO key facts).

Approximately 22% of the food produced is wasted in production or retailing, and 8% is wasted by consumers.

This is our wheat field. If you look closely, you can see wheat kernels all over the ground. This is mostly unavoidable. Wheat = $ so as you can imagine, there is (or should be) a big monetary incentive for engineers to make combines more efficient.

45% of fruits and veggies are wasted, that's almost 1/2 of production that is never eaten!

How do we feed a growing world population? Increase production, improve harvest techniques, logistics, and transportation, and make wiser personal choices. Let's not imitate Calfy 1 if we can help it!