Our Projects

Innovative models to reduce food waste on farm

A person's hands are picking a tomato

How might we… fix food waste on farm?

When farms can’t sell all of their produce, farmers lose money, and the resulting food waste contributes to climate change. We want to find a way to help farmers sell their whole crop, and to reduce food waste on farm.

This project will work with farmers to uncover the barriers to selling their whole crop, and experiment with solutions to overcome those challenges. 

Our early research found that one option is to broker sales of gluts by finding buyers. We can particularly help connect farmers to parties who can process the gluts.

We are also keen to explore models that reduce the risk factors which can create food waste on-farm, such as overplanting, damage from shocks and stresses, and more. So we’re trialling a procurement CSA model, where the risk is shared between buyer and farmer.

With Open Road, we can help overcome transport barriers that have previously existed. Our software  platform will help us manage sales of produce.

We’re using our network of values-aligned buyers to help farmers remain viable, and to try to find solutions to this problem.

We’re excited to be joined by project partners, including Farmer Incubator and Social Traders, and to be working with our Moving Feast collaborators.

This project is supported by the Victorian Government’s Recycling Victoria Innovation Fund as part of the Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre.

Contact us 

Email prue@openfoodnetwork.org.au if you would like to discuss this project further.

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Open Food Network acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on the unceded lands and waters across Australia. We pay our respects to Elders, past and present, honouring their rich cultures, traditions and custodianship that nourish communities and regenerate landscapes.

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