Any food that was grown for human consumption, which is thrown away is considered to be food waste. Food is wasted at every point along the food supply chain from production on farms through to processing and transport and then within households themselves. Each year Australians waste around 7.6 million tonnes of food which equates to about 312kg per person. This also contributes to about 3% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste costs the Australian economy around $36.6 billion each year. Households generate the most food waste in Australia, being responsible for about 30% of the total. Australia uses around 2,600 gigalitres of water to grow the food that is wasted. One of the major goals of Blackwood Larder is to reduce food waste at the farm level. Many farmers grow produce that may be difficult for them to sell. Maybe it is small or slightly blemished. In this case the larger supermarkets are not interested in buying it. All of the fruit that is used by Blackwood Larder to produce are dries product comes from farms close to home and would be classified as the seconds. This is the product the supermarkets done want. Since it is all hand sliced it means that any small blemishes can be removed and not used. The rest of the fruit is perfectly fine. This way we support local farmers, reduce waste.

Any of the left over fruit from processing we feed either to my happy chickens or to my spoilt sheep.