The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report on the prospects for global agriculture over the next ten years projects that halving food loss and waste has the potential to reduce global agricultural GHG emissions by 4% and to reduce the number of undernourished people by 153 million by the year 2030.

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In a detailed discussion about food loss and waste reduction efforts to date, the report notes that efforts to achieve SDG target 12.3( to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels by 2030, as well as reducing food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses) have been challenging, in part due to the absence of dependable data on the scale and distribution of food loss and waste.  The report finds that SDG 12.3 will be missed without transformation of global agrifood systems. 

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However, it also notes that almost all OECD countries have set national strategies to address food loss and waste (FLW) reduction and have implemented policies to support these strategies. The report’s ‘stylised scenario’ works from the assumption that these strategies will be fully implemented and will achieve a FLW reduction of 50% by 2030.  Achieving this could deliver a hugely significant

scenario - lowering global agricultural GHG emissions by 4% and reducing the number of undernourished people globally by 153 million. 

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The OECD and FAO highlight that implementing measures to curb FLW will involve significant costs and identifies three key obstacles that have to be overcome in order to achieve these strategies. 

1. Consumer behaviour, with factors such as lack of awareness about food waste impacts, over-purchasing, or discarding food that is still safe to eat because of best-before dates contributing to wastage.
2. Supply chain inefficiencies, including fragmented supply chains, inadequate infrastructure, logistical challenges or lack of circularity in business practices. 
3. Regulatory and policy constraints, such as regulatory barriers, inconsistent or fragmented policies, and lack of standardised measurement and reporting.

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FoodCloud’s 2025 pre-budget manifesto addresses many of these challenges and puts forward four key ways in which we believe significant progress can be made in advancing food surplus redistribution and food waste reduction: 

1. Making provision for a national programme to support farm level surplus redistribution of agricultural produce recovery. 
2. Support for virtual food banking in low- and middle-income countries. Such support aligns with Ireland’s obligation under Agenda 2030 and A Better World, to support lower and middle income countries and Food Vision 2030’s aim to be a leader in sustainable food systems
3. Investing in identified strategies for the prevention, reduction and redistribution of surplus food, including supporting the creation of a coalition of stakeholders to collaborate together to drive change. 
4. Creating a policy environment that encourages FLW reduction and supports redistribution, addressing the regulatory and policy constraints as identified by the OECD and FAO report. 

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The support and delivery of these measures will have a significant impact in Ireland and globally and will greatly aid our efforts to achieve SDG 12.3. 

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The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2024-2033 can be accessed here: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/agriculture-and-food/oecd-fao-agricultural-outlook-2024-2033_d87548df-en

FoodCloud’s Pre-Budget Manifesto 2025 can be accessed here.