Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 11 October 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Challenges Facing the Fruit and Vegetable Industry: Discussion

Ms Lynne Sweetman:

Our food waste varies by type of product and season. While there are several drivers of food waste, most recently, our primary contributor is weather, which has seen an increase in food waste. Unexpected sun can result in surplus fruit and poor weather can result in disease in the crop. We put that into jam packs in our farm shop and the additional surplus goes to FoodCloud. That will become more of a challenge over the years to come with the climate becoming more volatile.