Minimising food waste from the field to the table (Farm to Fork)

From 29 September 2024, the ‘Too good for the bin!’ campaign week of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) will take place in Germany. There are similar campaigns in Austria, ), Switzerland, France, Italy, England, Spain, and Sweden for example.

It is good to know that yoghurt does not immediately become inedible after the best-before date and that seeing, smelling and tasting is the better choice. However, it is often enough to show respect for the vegetables and everything that goes into them: Labour, love, energy, carbon footprint (or whatever your favourite motivation is).

However, food does not just end up in the bin at the point of consumption. Many decisions for and supposedly in the consumer’s interest have already been made beforehand. Potatoes that are too big or too small or crooked carrots are not even sold in supermarkets (many shops in Switzerland, for example, show that there are other ways of doing things). Apples were and are also knocked off the trees or sorted out because they are not all the same size – the more sustainable consumer therefore now buys apples in bags per kg. Broccoli are fattened with lots of fertiliser, regardless of the weather and season, until they weigh exactly what the supermarket demands per piece and uniformly for everyone. This is harmful to the environment and, if worse luck has it, a lot of broccoli ends up in the biogas plant because the supermarket didn’t buy it in the first place. However, supermarket chains can use scales and digital tools to quickly change prices.

In all these cases, it makes sense to make a clear personal and social statement and call on supermarkets to stop making such questionable quality claims. In other cases, it is not the fault of the EU, but that of the packaging industry, which just wanted cucumbers to fit better in the crates.

This is why processes such as potato desiccation have been developed, which stop the growth of potatoes in the field depending on the weather, potato size, starch content and required delivery date for further processing. Twining due to recurring wetness and further growth of the formerly compact tuber is also prevented.  Hardly anyone likes waxy potato varieties, which tend to taste mealy due to a high starch content (too much sun for too long).

What used to be done with highly toxic chemicals (for the spraying farmer and the dog owner out for a walk, not for the potato eater) can now only be done less effectively with substances that need sunlight to be effective. However, this is not always sufficiently available at harvest time and certainly cannot be planned – especially not in times of climate change.

Or it is now being sicced completely without herbicides.

That’s why crop.zone has created an innovation with electrophysical desiccation, in which the cells in the potato haulm are destroyed without chemical herbicides to such an extent that the haulm dries out and the potatoes no longer grow – and are given a stable skin.

In this way, crop.zone makes a contribution to a safe and high-quality harvest and against food waste. An important step in the value chain from farm to fork (farm to fork).

Then it’s the consumers’ turn. They enjoy the potatoes – and the remaining potatoes are turned into a nice portion of roast potatoes. Because they are far too good for the bin. And if they were jacket potatoes, the loss through the peel is minimal.

Bon appétit…