Podcast Appearances
wonky beetroot and strange looking holes and things, you might not understand what they are and you just go ahead and eat it anyway, you know?
And actually there's lots of research that shows that slightly imperfect veg might even be better for you because the plant has had to fight that bit harder to survive against a pest or some sort of a, you know, a pathogen or whatever.
So I think there's probably a nutrient density argument in favour of this and there's also definitely
a moral imperative to make sure this amazing food isn't wasted.
I think that some of it finds its way to a market, but very, very little of it.
I would say, certainly, I would hear from farmers that have had to literally dig produce back into the ground.
And, you know, that seems, I think, shocking for most people to hear.
Because there's just, as I say, there isn't a functional secondary market there.
And when I talk about this online or online,
People will say, well, can I get in touch with a local farmer or grower?
But I think it's really important for people to understand that the way our veg sector is set up, what's left of it basically is these massive, massive producers in most cases.
And so for them to pivot into finding a market for veg that maybe they can't get into a supermarket or can't get out of the ground, it's practically impossible.
I mean, I think, David, the last time I was on with you, we talked about
A grower in Kilkenny, a carrot grower, had 12% of the national carrot crop went out of business.
And you can imagine for the kind of volume that we're talking about there, finding a second route to market other than the standard sort of routes into supermarkets is practically impossible, which is why I think it's so important that we have way more smaller scale growers
in communities with different route to markets, whether that's into farmers' markets or greengrocers or veg box schemes, that gives us a much more resilient food system overall and hopefully reduces the waste, shocking waste that's in there at the same time.
Yeah, I think it is.
I mean, I think all the stakeholders in the system have a responsibility here, and that includes, you know, retailers with sort of innovative ideas like that.
Consumers, as consumers, we need to kind of vote with our wallets and vote, you know, support local producers and buy in-season produce, you know, follow the seasons which you're eating.
Government definitely can get involved in terms of providing those sort of single farm payments to veg growers to make sure...