Irish charity FoodCloud has called on farmers to get involved in its project to redistribute food waste for enough meals to “feed a full Croke Park and Aviva Stadium combined”.
The Growers’ Project is aimed at reducing food waste at farm level by connecting growers who have surplus produce with community groups located around the country.
After a successful pilot project in 2022 which saw 30,000t of food redistributed, the full project now aims to double this target, avoiding emissions of approximately 192,000kg of CO2 equivalent.
This 60,000t target amounts to around 130,000 meals, which is enough to feed a full capacity Croke Park and Aviva Stadium combined, according to FoodCloud.
The pilot project found that over three-quarters (77%) of farmers had edible surplus food to be redistributed, with most of that (52%) being produced during the summer months.
The pilot programme was supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and Tesco, with research partner Munster Technological University.
Food waste redistribution
The FoodCloud Growers’ Project will receive funding of almost €180,000 from the Rural Innovation and Development Fund through the DAFM, the charity said.
Any grower can participate in the project, subject to project capacity, and growers will be reimbursed the costs associated with making the produce available, the charity said.
FoodCloud will distribute this produce to its network of community groups throughout Ireland, and is also aiming to reach rural communities that it is not currently able to reach.
This programme, according to FoodCloud, will:
- Help the rural economy as it provides a clear solution to collaborate with the growers to rescue available surplus, i.e. covering the costs where necessary and making the redistribution process as simple as possible;
- Support an increase in the capacity and scale of the surplus food redistribution sector;
- Identify food waste at production/primary stage and develop innovative ways of reducing it.
Calling on farmers all across the country to get involved in the Growers’ Project after its “very successful” pilot programme, FoodCloud CEO and co-founder Aoibheann O’Brien said:
“Our target is to redistribute 60,000t of produce that would not otherwise have been harvested or which might have been sent for animal feed.
“During the pilot we discovered that there are large volumes of grade-two vegetables that are currently not reaching the market.”
Thus, she said the project presents a “huge opportunity” to take action against climate change by reducing food waste while supporting vulnerable communities with access to Irish vegetables.
“Farmers are crucial partners in this shared effort and our experience so far is that growers are keen to play their part in tackling this important environmental issue,” O’Brien added.
FoodCloud
FoodCloud partners with retailers, food companies, non-profit organisations, government and the wider business community to redistribute surplus food.
As of now, the charity redistributed over 93,000t of surplus food through its technology platform and physical hubs which is over 220 million meals, avoiding almost 300,000t of Co2 equivalent.
FoodCloud has created food hubs in Dublin, Cork and Galway to coordinate donation and redistribution of larger volumes of surplus food, as well as a tech platform, Foodiverse.
Using the platform, retailers with surplus food can connect with charities and voluntary organisations that need it across four markets — Ireland, the UK, Czech Republic and Slovakia.