Sustainability is an important issue for the horticultural industry, with waste at the core of it all. During the Global Berry Congress in Amsterdam Jonathan Sutton, from Marks & Spencer, Leon Terry, representing Cranfield University, Dominique Scaffolding, of Bayer CropScience and Paul Moody, of It's Fresh, talked about ways to reduce and prevent waste.
Jonathan Sutton (M&S): "For 2015, we aim to become the most sustainable retailer."
Sustainable retailers
M&S is working in various areas to improve sustainability. The retailer has set itself a goal to become the most sustainable retailer by 2015. To achieve this goal, the company is looking for strategies to turn stores more sustainable, but not only the stores, also the chains behind those stores. Jonathan Sutton mentioned several challenges that M&S is addressing: energy efficiency, switching to renewable energy and reducing waste. The latter is done in two ways; on the one hand, through a search for methods to improve the products' shelf life, and on the other hand, by using rotten or spoiled products to generate energy. M&S is also investing in extending the British market season, by which the number of 'food miles' is reduced.
Leon Terry: "More research is needed on when and where waste occurs."
Innovating to reduce waste
Leon Terry, representing Cranfield University, points to a weakness of the existing studies on waste. There are really very few new conclusions. According to Terry, more research needs to be done as to when and where waste is generated, as then the root of the problem could be tackled. The raw figures about total waste do not mean much. Many innovations aim to increase productivity, but that has to change. To address the real problem of waste, innovations should target this problem specifically.
Paul Moody (It's Fresh) and Dominique Steiger (Bayer Cropscience) on prevention of waste at the beginning and end of the chain.
Extending shelf life
Paul Moody, from It's Fresh, and Dominique Steiger, of Bayer CropScience, addressed two techniques that could prevent soft fruit from quickly becoming rotten or mouldy. It's Fresh has developed a technique consisting in the absorption of ethylene by a small mat placed on soft fruit trays. With this technique, the fruit's ripening process is slowed down. The challenge for the sector is in the final kilometres of the product's shipment; from the supermarket to the consumer at home. For this last stretch, a lot still needs to improve. To put this into perspective, Paul Moody said that every day 32% of the soft fruit sold is thrown away.
Participants of session 4 during the Global Berry Congress: Jonathan Sutton (M&S), Leon Terry (Cranfield University), Paul Moody (It's Fresh), Dominique Steiger (Bayer CropScience) and host Chris White (Eurofruit).
While Paul Moody focused on the final stage of the chain, Dominique Steiger zoomed in on the growers and crops. A portion of the harvest is lost due to dormant pathogens that are present on the fruit. In order to prevent this, Bayer CropScience has developed a plant protection product, Luna, which attacks the pathogens at an early stage, extending the fruit's shelf life and thereby reducing waste.