2021 California

Contribution of food loss to greenhouse gas assessment of high-value agricultural produce: California production, U.S. consumption

Authors: Qin, Y.; Horvath, A.

Food loss (wasted and spoiled food) increases the burden on resources and environmental impacts throughout the entire food chain. This study describes and deploys a model and identifies data sources for estimation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with food loss from farm production, delivery and refrigeration, retail sale, household consumption, and waste management in the United States using four California-grown high-value produce as case studies. The ratios of food wasted to food produced

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2022 California

What contributes more to life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of farm produce: Production, transportation, packaging, or food loss?

Authors: Qin, Y.; Horvath, A.

The food production and supply systems are some of the biggest contributors to climate change, and food loss from the entire food chain aggravates the problem. We developed a model to estimate the GHG emissions from the entire food cycle (production, packaging, transportation, refrigeration, and waste management), and applied it to cherries, onions, and plums, the first time these produce have been assessed comprehensively in the United States. We pulled into the analysis 6 additional fruits and

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