Waging a War on Waste
Around 7% of what’s grown in the UK never makes it to the plate
A WRAP report released in July 2019 states that ‘the total amount of food surplus and waste is 3.6 million tonnes per annum, or 7.2% of all food harvested. If this wasted and surplus food had been sold at market values, it would have had a value of £1.2 billion.’
Heartbreakingly, it is common practice for this produce to have various fates: ploughed back into the ground, sent to landfill, burnt, sent to anaerobic-digestion or used for animal feed. Nobody wins in these circumstances.
Most of it is down to a mismatch between the precise quantities that the market demands and the variable amounts that nature supplies. A buyer may want precisely 500 kilos of carrots every week but the weather can have different ideas. To allow for this, farmers have to grow way more than they’ll actually need. About 3 million tonnes more.
If that’s not crazy enough, our fetish for aesthetically ‘perfect’ veg adds to the problem.
Beauty is not just skin deep
So it makes no sense to bin tonnes of tasty, healthy food just for being a funny shape. This squandering of nature’s bounty was driving us loopy. So Waste Knot came about as a way of getting surplus veg out of farmers’ fields and into chefs’ kitchen.
We aim to turn perceptions on their head and challenge the archaic processes that have been the norm for years and years.
Working initially with farmers and caterers we’d known for years, we found the passion for doing something about the colossal problem was widely shared. Anyone who works in food knows that sustainability is no longer simply a buzzword. The stakes are high and everyone from individuals to corporations needs to take responsibility for looking after our planet, our bodies and our minds.
This little veggie went to market
At Waste Knot we looked at the traditional way fo getting fresh food from farm to kitchen - and gave it a little tweak.
Our method works alongside the conventional way of doing things, but gives growers a new market for their surplus while giving chefs the challenge and reward of making great food from seasonal ingredients.
This way everybody wins from farmers to caterers - as well as our precious and fragile environment.
Waste Knot creates a market for farmers to supply all misshapen and surplus vegetables to wholesalers, caterers including Sodexo and Compass as well as restaurants such as Church Road and Parlour and members’ clubs such as Allbright.
“Waste Knot is a straightforward, yet extraordinary idea that is pioneering in the fight against food waste. Working with Jess has given us more confidence in growing produce, enhanced our land management, helped to secure jobs and by using second-hand packaging helped to reduce our carbon footprint.”
Peter Osborne, Managing Director, Ferry Fast
Jess Latchford, Founder
Jess has been involved in the fresh produce industry for over 12 years with roles at farm wholesalers Secretts Direct and as founder fresh produce marketing company Fresh Engage. She certainly knows her onions when it comes to the joys and challenges of farming, having been the matchmaker between those growing glorious produce and those working their magic on it in the hospitality industry. Jess is an experienced speaker at industry events including Food & Drink Expo, London Produce Day and Women in the Food Industry. She has contributed to a DEFRA panel and written for Fresh Produce Journal.
Jess isn’t happier than when knee-deep in mud in a cauliflower field or scaling the dizzy heights of plum trees!