UGLY FOOD

In the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30-40 percent of the food supply. This estimate, based on estimates from USDA’s Economic Research Service of 31 percent food loss at the retail and consumer levels, corresponded to approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food in 2010. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kLV1Rw1PLkE" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> So, what causes food waste? And what can we do about it? On the next screen, you'll be asked to write a short paragraph that describes what you think casues food waste. Then, you'll play through several scenarios based on the idea of food waste. We estimate this activity will take about 30 to 40 minutes to complete. When you are ready, click "Begin" to initiate this activity. [[Begin->Begin]]

Please complete the following survey and then click "Continue" to go to the next part of this activity. <iframe src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSegOtXmufeOB8qTqLZFTyUDItFuMARkAwEE1aDehM5MlBlI3w/viewform?embedded=true" width="640" height="630" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">Loading…</iframe> --- Did you complete the survey and click its submit button? (link: "Yes, I completed and submitted the survey!")[== [[Continue->Scenario set-up]]

Let's look at the issue of food waste from the perspectives of some of the people involved with this problem. Click on any of the charcter names below to play their roles in our story. [[Consumers->Consumers]] [[Farmers->Farmers]] [[Grocery store owners->Grocery Store Owners]] [[Entrepreneurs->Entrepreneurs]]

Mary and Alex are both consumers who are looking to buy some produce. Click their names to play their roles. [[Mary->Mary]] [[Alex->Alex]]

Katherine and Tom are both farmers who grow and sell produce. Click their names to play their roles. [[Katherine->Katherine]] [[Tom->Tom]]

Rachel and Matthew are both farmers who grow and sell produce. Click their names to play their roles. [[Rachel->Rachel]] [[Matthew->Matthew]]

Jane and Sam are both consumers who are looking to buy some produce. Click their names to play their roles. [[Jane->Jane]] [[Sam->Sam]]

Mary is a single mom on a limited budget. She shops once a week at the nearby grocery store and always looks for what's on sale. She tries to find food for herself and her two children that is tasty, reasonably healthy, and inexpensive. [[Go shopping with Mary->Mary shopping]]

Alex has a wife and five children. He works as an engineers and makes a lot of money. The company he works at is right next to his family's favorite grocery store, so he usually picks up food for the family on his way home. [[Go shopping with Alex->Alex shopping]]

Tom is a farmer on a small farm in the southeastern United States. His farm specializes in organic foods and his primary customers are some local restaurants and some grocery stores that sell organic produce. Lately he has seen a lot of waste happeing with his cucumber crop, and now Tom is talking with his friend about the problem. [[Join the conversation with Tom and his friend->Tom conversation]]

Katherine manages a large farm in the mid-west United States. It has thousands of acres and grows a variety of foods. One of the crops is strawberries. Lately there has been a lot of waste with the strawberry crops and Katherine is exploring ways to fix that problem. She has a meeting with a local businessperson as is bringing Sarah with her, who is a crop scientist. [[Go to the meeting with Katherine->Katherine meeting]]

Rachel oversees regional sales for an international grocery store chain. Her region is the Northeastern United States. Her stores make the most profit on items with long shelf lives, but the public is increasingly wanting more choices in the produce sections. At the same time, Rachel knows that some of the produce the stores stock is thrown away. Also, store customers are not buying the expensive produce at a sustianable rate. She is going to a business meeting where this produce issue will be discussed. [[Go to the meeting with Rachel->Rachel meeting]]

Matthew owns a small neighborhood grocery store. One of the stores biggest problems is produce. The customers demand it, but produce is often not bought and therefore is thrown away. It's becomming a problem, because his store is consistently loosing money on produce. And his store's profit margin is already very then. He was approached by an entrepreneur with a proposal inteneded to address the produce problem. [[Attend Matthew's meeting with the entreprenuer->Matthew meeting]]

Jane lives in San-fransisco and has gathered an impressive sum of money for her business idea of connecting farmers with grocery stores and food banks in ways that will allow farms to sell blemished, dinged-up fruit and vegetables to the grocery stores and food banks. She's on her way to meet with three people that run a large farm, a local grocery store, and a local food bank, respectively. [[Go to Jane's meeting->Jane Meeting]]

Sam has received federal grant money for his idea to connect the largest farm in the western United States with the largest grocery store chain in that region. His idea is to connect the farm with the grocery store in ways that allow the farms to sell their "ugly produce" to the grocery stores. Sam is telling his friend about his plans. [[Listen to Sam's plan.->Sams plan]]

Mary and her children are doing their weekly shopping at the grocery store. One of their favorite desserts to have on the weekend is strawberry shortcake, and near the end of their time in the store one of Mary's children sees a big display of strawberries and enthuses, "Mom, look, strawberries! Stawberry shortcakes!!! Can we?!?!" Mary walks to the display and notices the price is high and realizes she can't afford to get them. Saddened, she turns but then notices some discounted strawberries. They look a little bruised, but mostly okay. These, she can afford, but as she picks them up her daughter pleads, "Mom, those are ugly strawberries! Get the nice ones!" "We can't afford them, so let's just get these- they will taste just as good as the pretty ones." A sad look chases across her little girl's face and she starts to cry a little. Mary puts the ugly strawberries back on the display saying, "I promise we'll get the nice ones next week." What would you do if you were in Mary's shoes? <iframe src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSchEjRI2IdSq1BTEuK_dAj57ZkxdLDr0OR97V6gT3sjpx6Yxw/viewform?embedded=true" width="640" height="550" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">Loading…</iframe> *//Be sure to click the survey's 'submit' button when you're finished with the survey.// --- Did you complete the survey and click its submit button? (link: "Yes, I completed and submitted the survey!")[== [[Continue->Scenario counter]]

Alex's wife called him before work and asked him to pick up several 5 pints of strawberries from the organic market. she wants to crush and blend the strawberries into some home made ice cream for the family's weekly "fancy dessert" night. Alex gets to the store and sees two displays of strawberries. One is discounted 50% becuase some of the strawberries are slightly bruised. He knows the strawberries will just be crushed and mixed into ice cream but he grabs the pretty strawberries anyway. He doesn't want to risk anyone at home complaning about ugly looking strawberries. Later that night, the store manager throws the ugly strawberries that were on display into the garbage. Do you see any kind of problem in this situation. Why or why not? And if so, what might be done about it? <iframe src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJ8rfyXdgXhrgI4C1URbqEFonyzn3SQKMVNdo1sslUrG-3xA/viewform?embedded=true" width="640" height="655" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">Loading…</iframe> --- Did you complete the survey and click its submit button? (link: "Yes, I completed and submitted the survey!")[== [[Continue->Scenario counter]]

The local businessperson suggests implementing a business plan where the idea of embracing "ugly food" is marketed as a way mitigate food waste. The business person offers to take the ugly food and distribute it to local stores and food banks. They would do this for a fee strive for a profitable business. Read this article about the businessperson's business idea: <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/infrastructure/473258-what-is-ugly-food-and-what-does-it-have-to-do" target="_blank">Company profile: Full Harvest</a> Sarah, the crop scientist, says the real cause of the problem is poor farming practices and a lack of skill, coupled with the fact "open-field farming" is incentivized by cheap labor, land, and water. She suggests investing resources into incentivizing better farming practices, such as growing crops such as tomatoes, strawberries, and cucumbers in greenhouses where they are not dinged up and bruised. She says farms that follow poor farming practices and are skill-poor should not be rewarded for the uneccessary waste their farming practices create. Read this interview with Sarah: <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/2/26/18240399/food-waste-ugly-produce-myths-farms" target="_blank">Sarah's interview</a> What do you think? Should farming practices be improved or should the levels of food waste they have be accepted and supported by additional resources, such as the business plan that's being offered here? <iframe src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScFWVg75C1pwqlI275UW2_nLPkFu5_2FPIXj1UHhX8l7dAYWg/viewform?embedded=true" width="640" height="622" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">Loading…</iframe> --- Did you complete the survey and click its submit button? (link: "Yes, I completed and submitted the survey!")[== [[Continue->Scenario counter]]

Tom's story. [[Continue->Scenario counter]]

Rachel's story [[Continue->Scenario counter]]

Matthew's story [[Continue->Scenario counter]]

Jane's story [[Continue->Scenario counter]]

Sam's story. [[Continue->Scenario counter]]

Your task for this activity is to visit each of the characters in our story. Here' is the list of what characters you've visited and what characters you still need to visit. * Consumers ** (if:(history:) contains "Mary shopping") [You've visited Mary's strawberry shortcake story](else: ) [ [[Mary->Mary shopping]] ] ** (if:(history:) contains "Alex shopping") [You've visited Alex's strawberry ice cream story](else:) [ [[Alex->Alex shopping]] ] * Farmers ** (if:(history:) contains "Katherine meeting") [You've visited Katherine's story](else:) [ [[Katherine->Katherine meeting]] ] ** (if:(history:) contains "Tom conversation") [You've visited Tom's story](else:) [ [[Tom->Tom conversation]] ] * Grocery store owners ** (if:(history:) contains "Rachel meeting") [You've visited Rachel's story](else:) [ [[Rachel->Rachel meeting]] ] ** (if:(history:) contains "Matthew meeting") [You've visited Matthew's story](else:) [ [[Matthew->Matthew meeting]] ] * Entrepreneurs ** (if:(history:) contains "Jane Meeting") [You've visited Jane's story](else:) [ [[Jane->Jane Meeting]] ] ** (if:(history:) contains "Sams plan") [You've visited Sam's story](else:) [ [[Sam->Sams plan]] ] (if:(history:) contains "Mary shopping" and "Alex shopping" and "Katherine meeting" and "Tom conversation" and "Rachel meeting" and "Matthew meeting" and "Jane Meeting" and "Sams plan") [ [[Continue->Review_1]] ]

Now that you've considered the issue of food waste from some different viewpoints, what is your preferred alternative for addressing the problem of food waste? Based on what you've learned from consumers, farmers, grocery store owners, and businesspeole how would your formulate a plan to deal with the problem of food waste? <iframe src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSckwueYJDfSA3ZqMEWhFFbUhkpXm9oMkrzfnZmak2hxYV0-xA/viewform?embedded=true" width="640" height="646" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">Loading…</iframe> --- Did you complete the survey and click its submit button? (link: "Yes, I completed and submitted the survey!")[== [[Continue->Reflection_1]]

This is the last step of this activity. Please complete the following survey. We hope this activity has increased your understanding about the issue of food waste and that you have new ideas for improving the situation. <iframe src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdgDBVBKy9iu-w80DEM4bqY-jPs-6FSVWQAckGruV-o4_E1xg/viewform?embedded=true" width="640" height="1716" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">Loading…</iframe> --- Did you complete the survey and click its submit button? (link: "Yes, I completed and submitted the survey!")[== (text-style:"bold")[Thank you for participating in this activity!] What's next for addressing the issue of food waste?!?! Here are some resources to help get you started learning more and becoming active about the issue! ''Additional resources'' * <a href="https://www.usda.gov/foodlossandwaste" target="_blank">USDA: Food loss and waste</a> * <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/95779/eib-216.pdf?v=1976.7" target="_blank">Economic Drivers of Food Loss at the Farm and Pre-Retail Sectors: A Look at the Produce Supply Chain in the United States</a>