ON-FARM LOSS AND WASTE OF VEGETABLES: MEASUREMENT, DRIVERS, AND WELFARE IMPLICATIONS

Ourlong-termgoal in this project is to develop methods for measuring on-farm food loss and waste (FLW)and to construct a nationwide measure of on-farm loss and waste of vegetables, which is missing from existing U.S. measures of loss and waste along the farm-to-fork food supply chain. This new set of estimates will be used in this project and subsequent studies to understand the drivers behind on-farm vegetable loss and waste, and the producer and consumer welfare and environmental and nutritional implications of reducing on-farm loss and waste of vegetables.The following interconnected objectives are established for this four-year project:Objective 1:Devise a measure of on-farm vegetable loss and waste and develop empirically consistent and practicable methods to construct measurements for the United States.Objective 2:Apply newly developed methods to construct measurements of on-farm loss and waste for a comprehensive set of vegetable commodities by connecting restricted-access NASS datasets.Objective 3:Examine the impact of federal crop insurance and quality standards on crop-level vegetable loss and waste.Objective 4:Simulate welfare changes for producers and consumers under credible policy scenarios for reducing on-farm loss and waste of vegetables, and quantify the consequent changes in environmental and nutritional impacts.