Online Alert Saves Food From Being Wasted
What’s the Latest Development?
A new online network called Cropmobster sends email alerts to individuals and businesses when a nearby farm has substantial amounts of crops that, unless someone takes them at a steeply discounted price, will spoil and go to waste. Currently, about 40 percent of agricultural products go to wast, a percentage that would not be acceptable in any other industry. “CropMobster is the creation of Nick Papadopoulos, a farmer from Petaluma, California, who has had enough of food waste. Earlier this year, he was standing in the vegetable cooler on his farm when he realized he had to do something.”
What’s the Big Idea?
Thanks to Cropmobster, there’s an opportunity to help vulnerable groups who lack access to quality food (or sometimes any food). In many cases, gleaners take harvested food to food banks. “Cropmobster has sold or donated 100,000 pounds of produce so far. Three hundred producers and grocers have signed up to the service, with 80 to 90 using it regularly. About 5,000 people are registered for the alerts. Papadopoulos says, that when he started, he didn’t appreciate the wider food waste problem: that up to 40 percent of food gets wasted in the U.S., and that food production is responsible for a host of needless environmental damages.”
Photo credit: Shutterstock.com
