By Steve Sonka and Grace Kenney The ADM Institute for the Prevention of Postharvest Loss is currently working on a learning assessment of global food loss as part of a grant funded with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation for the Waste and Spoilage in the Food Chain Development Initiative. This effort has led to […]
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New Practice-Based Tool for Making Decisions on Investment in PHL Reduction
by Casey Cheng and Kari A. Wozniak If you were going to invest resources into reducing postharvest losses within a supply chain, where exactly would you invest them? Would you begin with building better storage, or perhaps buying a mechanical drier? These types of questions face farmers, managers, and practitioners around the world, and yet […]
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Loss-Free Agriculture – Science or an Art?
by Steve Sonka, Ag Economist & Research Professor at the ADM Institute In early May 2014, I was asked to speak at the 2nd Annual UN FAO SAVE FOOD Congress in Dusseldorf, Germany, on the suggested topic, “Agricultural Management: The Art of Loss Free Agriculture”. That title caused me to reflect on where I learned about […]
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How Technology Alone Won’t Curb Postharvest Losses
by Dr. Prasanta Kalita, Director of the ADM Institute for the Prevention of Postharvest Loss Estimates suggest that 1/3 of all food is lost or wasted after it is grown in supply chains and at the consumer level. In many developing countries, this happens at especially high rates during storage phases. Yet a drive down […]
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Are Farmers with Postharvest Loss Acting Rationally?
by Steve Sonka, Ag Economist Events vs. Structure External observers of postharvest loss in developing countries typically have little difficulty identifying loss and waste. Indeed each winter the ADM Institute contributes to the travel funding for University of Illinois business and agricultural engineering students to study in rural India. The resulting student blogs (see one […]
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For Landscapes, GLF Calls for Same Needs of Postharvest Loss Prevention: An Integrated Understanding
by Kari A. Wozniak, Project Coordinator, ADM Institute The landscapes approach means being holistic and integrated. It means unifying management efforts around achieving the triple win: increased yields, boosted incomes, and lowered greenhouse emissions. Certainly a good idea as it sounds, but how does one practically go about doing it? That’s what the dozens of […]
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Innovations through Partnerships: How We’ll Feed More with Less
by Steve Sonka You likely wouldn’t meet Randall Hogan, the CEO of Pentair, at the Borlaug Dialogue where scientists, researchers, and practitioners gather to discuss today’s most pressing challenge—how to feed more with fewer resources. Yet this morning, I found myself forwarding an interview about Hogan’s new corporate strategy to my colleagues and co-hosts of […]
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Postharvest Loss and the Power of 3
by Kari A. Wozniak As of late this summer, the ADM Institute is a partner of an innovative initiative called “The Power of 3: Food, Water, and Energy”, with the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and others. This partnership unites the strengths of industry and academia behind a science-based effort to develop cross-cutting solutions for […]
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A Story of Loss: The Dynamics of Postharvest Loss Prevention
by Grace R. Kenney As the world’s population continues to grow, the challenge of feeding a growing population becomes more crucial. The capacity to feed an additional two billion people will need to be achieved in the next two or three decades, and currently there are nearly 870 million people who are chronically hungry. […]
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Sustainable Prevention of Postharvest Loss
by Steve Sonka When it comes to preventing postharvest loss, we know certain things. We know that reliable data is lacking, and that measurement is key to overcoming the data impediment. We also know that historically, data has been too expensive to gather, although with 21st century technology there is opportunity for innovation that can […]
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