Food Waste Webinar Series

About 30% of the foods produced globally is lost or wasted and over one-third of the food produced in the U.S. is not eaten, contributing to negative economic, environmental, social and health consequences. The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and our partners have invested approximately $15 million to support research to better understand and evaluate how food systems interact and contribute to food loss and waste and develop innovations to prevent and reduce food waste and loss across the value chain.

This series shares results from some of the FFAR-funded food waste research studies, their associated innovations and future research directions.

Date- April 2, 2024
Time- 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. EST

FFAR awarded a $188,360 New Innovator in Food and Agriculture Award (NIA) to Auburn University to develop a product called “Functional Ice” for storage and transportation of raw poultry and seafood to decrease food waste. Matching funds were provided by Auburn University for a total $377,114 investment.

This presentation focused on food waste and loss reduction technologies developed that could easily be adopted by end-users, without requiring significant infrastructure investment or deviation from their existing practices. Researchers will discuss two technologies developed through the FFAR funding, Functional ICE (FICE) to replace regular ice, and First-Expire First-Out models to replace the traditional First-In First-Out logistics models. Researchers will present the data and the impact of their work.

Date- April 16, 2024
Time- 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. EST

FFAR awarded a $540,000 Seeding Solutions Grant to Cornell University to develop a way to convert nutritious agricultural waste into snack foods. Matching funds were provided by New York Apple Association and Cornell University for a total $1.08 million investment.

This presentation focused on a new and novel platform for the utilization of agricultural byproducts by converting them into snack foods of unique texture and high nutritional qualities. Fruit pomace and acid whey as a subset of waste stream along with high-pressure extrusion technology that has been developed at Cornell University were utilized to establish the process efficacy and product characteristics. No such commercial process and /or product exist in the market today. The utility of the technology for making novel products and its techno-economic analysis will also be discussed.

Date- April 23, 2024
Time- 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. EST

FFAR awarded a $590,000 Seeding Solutions grant to Cornell University to develop technology that provides consumers with a more accurate shelf-life predication for perishable products. The FFAR grant has been matched with funding from the Department of Food Science at Cornell University, New York State Dairy Promotion Order and Chobani for a total $1.56 million investment.

This presentation reviewed modeling tools that were developed, using fluid milk as a model system, to predict food spoilage and assess the impact of different interventions that could reduce food waste reduction. Dr. Weidmann discussed how these modeling tools can be used for prediction of product shelf-life and combined with dynamic pricing approaches to encourage sales of products closer to end of shelf life, which can be responsible for waste at the retail level.

Date- April 30, 2024
Time- 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. EST

FFAR awarded $650,000 to World Wildlife Fund to develop tools for farmers to measure and report on-farm food losses. The FFAR grant has been matched with funding from the Walmart Foundation for a total $1.3 million investment.

World Wildlife Fund is pioneering the development of a new simplified Global Farm Loss Tool for growers of all sizes and food commodity types to easily measure and report their on-farm losses. Beyond measurement, this tool aims to help farmers and buyers across international lines to communicate what is being left behind in-field and why, in an effort to then help them develop new channels and solutions with buyers to mitigate their on-farm loss hotspots and scope three emissions.

FFAR Awards Grants to Combat Food Waste

Learn more about FFAR food waste grants.

FFAR Grant to Accurately Predict Food’s Shelf Life to Reduce Food Waste

FFAR Awards $540,000 Grant to Minimize Food Waste