Farmer harvest decisions and vegetable loss in primary production

Johnson, Loch K.; Bloom, J. Dara; Dunning, Rebecca; Gunter, Chris; Boyette, Michael D.; Creamer, Nancy G.

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2019.102672

Cited by 57 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…According to the European Commission, only harvested products are considered as food and could count as food loss [21]. However, for the purpose of our study, and following the approach of [22], it is important to include also the products lost before harvest, as these losses are relevant for the farmers and loss levels are also affected by other actors of the value chain. For example, some fruits and vegetables like lettuce and strawberries are prepared for marketing directly on the field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Approaches to Reduce Food Losses in German Fruit and Vegetable Production

2019

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Food losses occur in all agricultural value chains, but are especially high in the fruit and vegetable sector. This study quantifies losses of selected fruits (strawberries, apples) and vegetables (lettuce, carrots), identifies the main reasons for food losses, and assesses effective measures for the reduction of these losses. Data were collected in structured interviews with value chain actors from production to food retail and validated in regional expert workshops. Results show that in average years, about 25% of the analysed vegetables are lost at farm level. The range of fruit losses differs widely, from 15% to 20% for strawberries and only 6% to 16% for apples. Weather is a major factor for crop losses, since it can strongly affect product appearance and hence marketability in the food retail sector. There is a lack of alternative market channels for products, which do not meet the high-quality standards for fresh products in the retail sector. Effective measures to reduce food losses are protected cultivation in greenhouses or under hail nets, continuous cooling systems, improved packaging and training of staff. More cooperation and coordination between producers, wholesalers and retailers could also increase the share of marketable products.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Approaches to Reduce Food Losses in German Fruit and Vegetable Production

2019

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“…These effects are heterogeneous across the distribution for the weight of food loss.Research has also examined the extent of food losses at different stages of the food supply chain. At the farm production level, food losses range from 20 to 40 percent for meat, dairy, cereal, and vegetable products [15][16][17]. These production losses occur when agricultural shocks such as weather conditions prevent crops from being harvested, or when produce is "graded out" based on quality [16].…”

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confidence: 99%

“…At the farm production level, food losses range from 20 to 40 percent for meat, dairy, cereal, and vegetable products [15][16][17]. These production losses occur when agricultural shocks such as weather conditions prevent crops from being harvested, or when produce is "graded out" based on quality [16]. Other literature has examined post-harvest losses of crops such as maize and sweet potato due to poor management skills and market mismatches [18,19].However, despite this extensive research, no studies have been done on FLW at wholesale markets.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…This paper provides the first estimates of food loss at wholesale markets using evidence from the largest fruit and vegetable wholesale market in Taiwan.Second, we examine the heterogeneity of food loss in fruit and vegetable wholesale markets and their distributional determinants. The vast majority of papers examining FLW in the food supply chain exclusively consider one category of crops, such as vegetables, cereals, or maize [16][17][18][19]. We separately estimate the determinants of FLW for different types of vegetable products and fruits, respectively.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, we identify the determinants for small, medium, and large amounts of food loss. Much of the literature only studies the mean amount of food loss in the supply chain [16][17][18][19]. We leverage our rich dataset on individual fruit and vegetable transactions to determine how different amounts of food loss are attributable to varying factors while comparing between the magnitude of these effects.…”

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What Is Missing in Food Loss and Waste Analyses? A Close Look at Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Markets

2019

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Food loss and waste (FLW) has been the subject of significant research, with recent empirical evidence analyzing the determinants of FLW in many different countries. Much of this literature examines FLW at the farm, food processing, and consumer level. However, to the best of our knowledge, no study thus far has addressed this issue at food wholesale markets. This paper fills this knowledge gap by examining food loss at fruit and vegetable wholesale markets. Using a dataset with individual auction transactions from Taiwan, we examine the extent to which average daily market prices, product quality, and disaster shocks are associated with food loss. Results point to a negative effect of daily market prices on food loss. Furthermore, disaster shocks can lead to greater food loss, particularly typhoons. These effects are heterogeneous across the distribution for the weight of food loss.Research has also examined the extent of food losses at different stages of the food supply chain. At the farm production level, food losses range from 20 to 40 percent for meat, dairy, cereal, and vegetable products [15][16][17]. These production losses occur when agricultural shocks such as weather conditions prevent crops from being harvested, or when produce is "graded out" based on quality [16]. Other literature has examined post-harvest losses of crops such as maize and sweet potato due to poor management skills and market mismatches [18,19].However, despite this extensive research, no studies have been done on FLW at wholesale markets. There are two primary reasons to believe that FLW can be a severe problem at this stage in the food supply chain. First, many wholesale markets are unplanned urban spaces with no special facilities. Thus, these markets often lack even a single refrigeration unit for their products, particularly cold storage systems that can preserve and store goods for extended periods. Second, the auction system that typically governs wholesale markets can also generate FLW. Since consumers bid on both the quality and quantity of items, this means that products can be left unsold. Wholesale markets facilitate FLW because they have the unique cost of clearing their inventory of perishable products at the end of the business day. This clearance is done to ensure that there is adequate space for the following day's auction items.This paper quantifies the determinants and extent of food loss for wholesale markets using a case study in Taiwan as an illustration. Using a large-scale dataset of individual transactions from a fruit and vegetable wholesale market, we estimate the weight of food loss using the ordinary least squares and quantile regression models. Results show that average market prices are negatively associated with the weight of fruit and vegetable food loss. Compared to high-quality grades of fresh fruits and vegetables, low-quality products are less likely to be sold within the auction market. Regarding the sourcing of agricultural products, we find that fresh fruits and vegetables provided by farmer'...

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Public health risks arising from food supply chains: Challenges and opportunities

Lü

Guttieres

Levi

et al. 2021

Naval Research Logistics

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Safe, healthy, and resilient food supply chains are essential to ensuring the livelihood and well-being of humans and societies, as well as local and global economies. However, the ability to provide and sustain access to nutritious and safe food continues to be a major concern and a challenge for almost any country around the world, including developed countries. Some serious and global public health risks arise from food supply chains. These include food safety and adulteration risks in which unsafe food is sold for human consumption, antimicrobial resistance risks that are becoming increasingly prevalent due to the overuse of antibiotics, zoonotic disease risks (i.e., viruses and diseases that transfer from animals to humans through food supply chains), food waste, and also food security issues such as food deserts and the diet disparity among different segments of the population. This article gives an introduction to these various risks and reviews directions in the current academic literature to address these challenges. The article also seeks to highlight important new research directions in these areas, and especially those that might be of significant interest to the operations research community.

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Farmer harvest decisions and vegetable loss in primary production

Cited by 57 publications

References 26 publications

Approaches to Reduce Food Losses in German Fruit and Vegetable Production

Approaches to Reduce Food Losses in German Fruit and Vegetable Production

What Is Missing in Food Loss and Waste Analyses? A Close Look at Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Markets

Public health risks arising from food supply chains: Challenges and opportunities

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