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IPFS News Link • Agriculture

This farmer says he reluctantly throws away enough cauliflower to feed a province

• CBC.ca

Richard Melvin hopes there comes a time when the majority of food waste from his farm ends up in the mouths of people who need it most.

Despite being "perfectly good to eat," up to 40 per cent of Melvin's 36 hectares of cauliflower gets plowed back into the ground each year, according to the Nova Scotia farmer's estimates.

"We waste enough cauliflower on our farm to feed everybody in Nova Scotia, or the Maritimes for that matter," he told Cross Country Checkup's Ian Hanomansing. 

Many farmers aren't in a position to afford to harvest, box and transport produce that isn't being purchased, Melvin says — especially for vegetables like cauliflower that can spoil in two weeks.

"This is fresh produce, so we're talking about a fairly short shelf life. We often get into a situation where we try to do something and the market demand is not quite as good as what we thought it would be."


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