How climate change is altering the look, taste and nutrition content of fruits and vegetables

The economic cost of food waste in Australia is staggering. It’s estimated $36.6 billion is lost to the economy every year. Much of our fresh produce never even makes it to stores, rejected at the farm gate due to cosmetic reasons, such as its appearance, size or ripeness. We’ve known about this problem for a long time, which has given rise to the “ugly” food movement. Once-rejected produce has been rebranded as “wonky” in the UK, “inglorious” in France, “naturally imperfect” in Canada or an “odd bunch” in Australia. While the existence of these campaigns is commendable, there’s another major marketing challenge if we want to reduce food waste - acceptance of climate-affected produce. Broadly speaking, this refers to produce affected by extreme or moderate weather events. Droughts are an example of such climate events, predicted to become more intense and frequent as a result of global climate change. Climate-affected produce resembles “ugly” food as it is often smaller, misshapen or has surface imperfections.