Carl Casale is an independent director at Syngenta, a global company in the agricultural industry. At Syngenta, Carl Casale is part of a team of directors leading the company towards its goal of achieving global food security. One of the ways they're doing this is by supporting the cause of ending global food waste.
Food waste is one of the major threats to achieving global food security. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 1.4 billion tons of food is wasted across the world annually. In addition to this waste contributing significantly to the problem of food shortage, there are also environmental implications. For instance, discarded food eventually finds its way to landfills, and over time, as it decomposes, it releases methane gas. According to scientists, methane is one of the gases which adversely affects the earth's climate.
Furthermore, food waste leads to squandered resources. For example, agriculture uses up about 70 percent of the world's freshwater. About 25 percent of that amount is lost to food waste. That's an estimated 45 trillion gallons of water. Additionally, food waste leads to the degradation of around 3.5 billion acres of land. Biodiversity is negatively impacted by food waste, and oil, diesel, and fossil fuels are wasted as well. Thus, reducing food waste is not only crucial to achieving global food security but to sustaining the environment.
Food waste is one of the major threats to achieving global food security. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 1.4 billion tons of food is wasted across the world annually. In addition to this waste contributing significantly to the problem of food shortage, there are also environmental implications. For instance, discarded food eventually finds its way to landfills, and over time, as it decomposes, it releases methane gas. According to scientists, methane is one of the gases which adversely affects the earth's climate.
Furthermore, food waste leads to squandered resources. For example, agriculture uses up about 70 percent of the world's freshwater. About 25 percent of that amount is lost to food waste. That's an estimated 45 trillion gallons of water. Additionally, food waste leads to the degradation of around 3.5 billion acres of land. Biodiversity is negatively impacted by food waste, and oil, diesel, and fossil fuels are wasted as well. Thus, reducing food waste is not only crucial to achieving global food security but to sustaining the environment.
