The USDA recognizes the impacts of food loss and food waste on food security and the environment. USDA, in concert with agency partners, is working toward the goal of reducing food loss and food waste by 50 percent by 2030.
In the latest effort in reduction activities, the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program is leading a national Community Foods Project (CFP) Food Loss and Waste Training and Technical Assistance Grants Program, funded through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). A total of $8 million is being provided to 14 organizations across the nation.
The program supports projects that align with the National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics, released in June 2024. The program prioritizes preventing food from becoming waste, diverting edible food to people through donation or upcycling, and feeding animals. The goals of the Food Loss and Waste Training and Technical Assistance Grants Program are to:
- Increase the self-reliance of communities in providing for their own food needs;
- Promote comprehensive responses to local food access, farm, and nutrition issues;
- Identify strategies for reducing food loss and waste by identifying value-added production opportunities;
- Meet specific state, local, or neighborhood food and agriculture needs for planning for long-term solutions;
- Create innovative marketing activities that mutually benefit agricultural stakeholders and consumers.
- Describe how the research or training and technical assistance will lead to improved quality of life for producers, communities and consumers.
Fourteen organizations have been awarded funding to both reduce food loss and waste, and educate a variety of audiences about their reduction techniques. These organizations are diverse in size, geographic location, and in their focus on one or more parts of the food supply chain.
The awardees are:
- Gotham Food Pantry, New York, NY
- Last Mile Food Rescue, Cincinnati, OH
- Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
- University of Delaware, Newark, DE
- FoodCycle, Los Angeles, CA
- Association of Gleaning Organizations, Kamas, UT
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
- El Departamento de la Comida, Caguas, PR
- University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
- University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
- Pete’s Garden, Kansas City, MO
- Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, Pocantico Hills, NY
- Concrete Jungle, Atlanta, GA
- The Good Acre, Falcon Heights, MN
Explore these funded projects at: www.sare.org/resources/food-loss-and-waste/. For more information about this grant program, contact Lisa Johnson, National SARE Food Loss and Waste Grant Manager at FLW@sare.org.
View Related SARE Grants:
- Directing Surplus Food to Los Angeles Food Deserts
- Reducing Food Insecurity and Waste at Hispanic Serving Institutions
- Upcycling Community Food Waste With Insect Allies
- Good Food Belongs to the People of Southwest Ohio
- Milk Waste Reduction Strategies in Childcare Centers
- Nationwide Gleaning Effort On Reducing Food Waste
- Reducing Food Waste and Enhancing Specialty Crop Farm Viability
- Less Food Waste, More Family Meals: Encouraging Shared Mealtime
- Diverting Food Waste from an Urban Public University
- Waste Not, Want Not–Kentucky Feeding Network
- From Food Waste to Culturally Valued Communities
- Guide for Feeding Food Waste to Hogs and Hens
- Upcycling On-Farm Food Waste Through Gleaning and Education
- Low-Income Public Housing Food Rescue Operations