Wasting Food, Rescue Crops, America's Agriculture

     If you don't think that Genetically Modified foods (GMOs) create the kind of mutations that people feared from Nuclear Power Plants, then look at this...

     Above is a picture from this month's National Geographic, which I read in my local coffeeshop, Astoria Coffee.  It highlighted the world's alarming food waste.  It also mentioned that such vegetables (over 30% of modern production) are discarded--instead of sold at market--because of their appearance.  Nonetheless, it contributes to food waste.  Here are other statistics from the article:

- Millions of Colombian bananas are considered too short, too long, too curvy, so they are discarded instead of sold/donated.
- The United Nations' Food & Agriculture Organization says that 2.9 TRILLION pounds of of produce to squanders annually.  
- Sources of such waste come from supermarkets that display too much food (which spoils), the cheap trucking companies that turn off their refrigeration--to save money--thus spoiling fresh foods, and uneaten foods at hotels, buffet restaurants, cruises, country clubs, and weddings.
- Waste occurs during Picking of fresh produce, Storage, and Juicing or Canning or Baking.
- 30% of Peruvian mandarin oranges won't meet Export standards and are consumed by locals but mostly discarded.
- Too many humans are suffering from hunger, despite all the waste.
- Not enough people (who have the resources to make a difference) are concerned about ending hunger or food waste.
- Too many consumers are too persnickety about the appearance of the foods (that they're going to chop up, stew, juice, or sauté anyway).  
- Too many eaters don't finish all the food on their plates.
- Former president of Trader Joe's Supermarkets, Doug Rauch, has opened a non-profit market in Massachusetts to help poor people get good food before its discarded by other markets.
- Thanks to govt-aided Big Agriculture corporations like Monsanto, 75% of crop diversity has been lost since 1990!
- On Earth, there are 30,000 kinds of edible plants, but only 7,000 are cultivated for food.  From that only 30 kinds are "staple crops" that feed most of the world.  (Think of the Irish Potato Famine because they depended on only a few varieties, and then think of the Mad Cow Disease, a few years ago at the processing plants of Big Businesses).

     Finally, I keenly observed how they (oddly) swayed the data of American food waste.  They included Canada, New Zealand and Australia with the United States.  Why?  Well, probably to lower the average of waste, to make the USA look less guilty (less than South America).

Now that you're informed of this, DO SOMETHING!