City Harvest
Sustainable solution to rising prices and decreasing profits How giving away is the new way to save in the UK food industry. “One of our donors calls the bins of non-retail grade apples he donates to us as his ‘steps to heaven’. We save him the cost of Anaerobic Digestion disposal of edible, but unsaleable fruit and he feels a little better about not being able to sell them,” said Sarah Calcutt, City Harvest, CEO. City Harvest takes all good food. The standard specification we share with farm donors is, if you’d eat it, we’ll take it. Fresh produce is an essential part of a good diet, we’re on a mission to ensure that all of the organisations we work with are able to share a healthy, balanced diet, rich in produce recovered from waste streams therefore reducing on-farm costs. Ambient food is the hardest to source, then protein such as meat and dairy, but we take everything. Our goal is to provide free nutritious food that helps children and families thrive, not just survive. Data is king to City Harvest, we produce impact reports to let companies know exactly how much their donations equate to in kilograms rescued, meals delivered and Green House Gases prevented. We also
report on the social impact it has with community case studies on where the food goes, these metrics aid Cat 3 and net zero declarations and we also work with a large number of B-Corp enterprises. City Harvest launched its Food Report at Harvest Festival at St Paul’s Cathedral on 1 October. It’s an investigation of the behaviour and attitudes of food companies. Some of the key players in the food industry, farmers, manufacturers and retailers have faced huge increases in the cost of production while suffering a decrease in profits. Farmers have suffered from the increase in the prices of fertiliser, energy and operational costs, manufacturers have suffered from lower output due to labour shortages, and retailers have suffered from managing price variations of produce for their consumers amidst the cost-of-living crisis. As the food industry has sought to reduce costs, there is one place that many in the industry have missed – food redistribution. To understand more about the attitudes and perspectives of food redistribution, City Harvest surveyed its food donors to provide insight into the industry’s perspective on this topic.
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