We often get questions about what would otherwise happen to imperfect produce if we weren’t in the picture. We could talk about the 20 billion pounds of food that go to waste on farms each year or data around the amount we recover and donate, but we decided it would be best to explain our mission through this story.
Last week, we received a call from Lakeside Organics, a family-owned and operated business out of Watsonville, California. They had a field full of rutabagas that were going to be tilled back into the field — their grocery partners wouldn’t accept them due to their unusual shapes and sizes.
It wasn’t just the food that would be wasted. The time, labor, water, fertilizer, and other precious resources that went into growing these rutabagas would be tilled back into the field along with them. Could Imperfect pay Lakeside to harvest this rutabaga and offer it to our customers?
We purchased every last rutabaga they could harvest, product that would have otherwise been left in the field at a cost to the environment and the farmer, and shipped them to our San Francisco and Los Angeles customers.
And while there are times when the produce in your box may have had a second life — perhaps as animal feed, compost, or on the processing market — we know that our community is providing a solution that’s much better for the environment than animal feed or compost, and helps hardworking farmers get a fair price for their produce. Beyond being ugly, like these rutabagas, produce goes to waste for so many solvable reasons:
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Surplus in the market: for example, a flood in the watermelon market during peak season means supply is greater than demand
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Food trends: particular items are popular during a specific time of year, such as pumpkins and squash during the fall holidays, but are still produced year-round and need a home
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Grocery store contracts: contracts between retailers and growers are sometimes cancelled, leaving farmers with an abundance of produce
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Certification issues: for example, an organic shipper was not able to sell limes due to the farm falling behind on organic certifications, so the fruit was just left on the trees when it could’ve been harvested and sold as conventionally grown
We will continue to change the outcomes of these stories for the better, all while creating some of the best living wage jobs in food and providing almost 10,000 families, including many living in food deserts, access healthy food at radically affordable prices with our reduced-cost box program. The work we do is a critical step in improving our food system. It’s not the only solution, but we are shaking things up and transforming things for the better. Food waste is the third highest leverage action the planet can take right now to fend off global warming and we’re going to keep passionately pursuing our vision of a world without waste.
I invite you to learn more about our farmers and our mission. We’re so proud of what we do and grateful to have you in our community.
Thanks for being part of our mission to fight food waste and build a better food system for everyone,
Ben Simon
CEO and Co-founder
18 Comments
Elisa Zhang
January 30, 2019 at 10:53 pmGreat story! Thanks for the inside look at what goes on with Imperfect Produce. I do wonder though – since I am an Imperfect Produce customer, I’m buying most of my produce from you guys and far less from grocery stores. Thus, there hasn’t been a change in my consumption, merely its source. Would this then not suggest that I am now creating NEW waste problems because of excess grocery store produce that customers like myself are no longer buying? What is the math there? Thanks very much!
Leigh Legler
January 31, 2019 at 12:13 amI’ve been curious about this as well, so I’m interested to hear Imperfect’s response. I’ve been able to note that I’ve been consuming more produce in general because of Imperfect (especially as a low-income customer), and I think about the fact that groceries have already paid for those produce items they do carry (so the farmers at least aren’t losing out on profit) and I wonder if the groceries have their own ways of mitigating waste from there. Beyond that though, I wonder how the effects play out.
Imperfect
February 1, 2019 at 9:25 pmHey Leigh,
This was a super thoughtful question. Check out our answer to Elisa above for our full response.
Imperfect
February 1, 2019 at 9:25 pmHey Elisa and Leigh!
We appreciate the thoughtful question. Our current food system is governed by supply and demand, and currently, the supermarket demand for perfect produce is forcing growers to overplant, creating inefficiency in the form of waste along the way. Our goal is to make the system more efficient by enabling farmers to utilize more of what they grow every year, to feed people. Today, growers routinely have to overplant by 10-30% each year so they have enough “pretty” produce to fulfill their contracts with big retail chains. Essentially, we’re living in a surreal world where to feed 100 people, you have to grow enough food for 120, which eats up a lot of unnecessary land and water in the process. We hope that by creating demand for ugly produce, grocery stores will eventually relax their standards (Kroger already has) and farmers will be able to either plant the same amount of produce and feed more people, or even plant less and just use a higher percentage of it to feed people. To feed a global population of 9 billion people by 2050, experts agree that we need to find ways to use more of what we’re already growing and we believe that embracing ugly produce is a necessary part of this transition.
Leigh Legler
January 31, 2019 at 12:04 amThis is the kind of thing I love to read and learn more about! Thank you so much for this very specific inside look.
Imperfect
February 1, 2019 at 9:25 pmYou’re very welcome! We’re glad you enjoyed reading it!
Anna Hymes
January 31, 2019 at 1:19 amI have been an Imperfect Produce customer for several months and I really am glad to avoid the excess plastic as well as helping cut back on food waste. I would really be interested in seeing a way to reduce the packaging — I recycle the cardboard boxes the fruit and veggies come in, but re-using would be a better thing —
Angela Beegle
January 31, 2019 at 1:23 amI sometimes transport chickens in them. They’re excellent for carrying small animals – lots of air flow, good strong box, and burnable or compostable at the end.
Angela Beegle
January 31, 2019 at 1:22 amI wonder, though….and I’ve been getting Imperfect Produce for months now…if I buy this, I don’t buy the "pretty" stuff at the grocery store. What happens to it if nobody buys it?
Imperfect
February 1, 2019 at 9:31 pmHey Angela,
This is a great question. The short answer is that, in time, your decision to buy ugly produce will change our food systems balance of supply and demand for the better. You will help enable our nation’s farmers to utilize more of what they grow and will also encourage grocery stores to drop their strict standards that are causing so much waste and overproduction in the first place. We shared our longer take on it below to some other curious folks, and we’ll re-post it here if you don’t mind. Our current food system is governed by supply and demand, and currently, the supermarket demand for perfect produce is forcing growers to overplant, creating inefficiency in the form of waste along the way. Our goal is to make the system more efficient by enabling farmers to utilize more of what they grow every year, to feed people. Today, growers routinely have to overplant by 10-30% each year so they have enough “pretty” produce to fulfill their contracts with big retail chains. Essentially, we’re living in a surreal world where to feed 100 people, you have to grow enough food for 120, which eats up a lot of unnecessary land and water in the process. We hope that by creating demand for ugly produce, grocery stores will eventually relax their standards (Kroger already has) and farmers will be able to either plant the same amount of produce and feed more people, or even plant less and just use a higher percentage of it to feed people. To feed a global population of 9 billion people by 2050, experts agree that we need to find ways to use more of what we’re already growing and we believe that embracing ugly produce is a necessary part of this transition.
Natolie Bester
January 31, 2019 at 1:24 amI work within a few block of a Whole Goods and HEB but I also work long hours and it’s hard to shop comfortably after work with my 4 year old in really crowded produce sections. Additionally I have always believed in making impactful choices. Thank you for bringing convenience and environmentalism straight to my doorstep! We eat a lot of produce and live to juice so knowing we can have home delivery of produce that would otherwise not have been harvested or sold is just so phenomenal! The purple garlic was so beautifully imperfect and also so beautifully not the pre peeled Chinese garlic that is oftentimes peeled by prisoners, and you were even able to offer them at the same price… We got our first box today and are so impressed at the quality of everything and excited to enjoy more! Thank you for creating a way to really allow masses of people to be healthy and support the causes that can make a tangible impact today and tomorrow! I would live it if I could sponsor a box for my sister in rural northern Michigan, the access they have to produce selection is slim to none, vastly different than my world in Austin, TX so thanks for making an effort to do that too instead of just catering to the trendy cities!
Imperfect
February 1, 2019 at 9:23 pmHey Natolie,
We are so glad that you’re enjoying your Imperfect box so much. This comment warmed our hearts to read. We’re doing our best to expand to more areas like where your sister lives. Thanks so much for your support and encouragement!
Carol Friendly
January 31, 2019 at 5:29 amI belong to an all volunteer group called Tualatan Valley Gleaners. Our drivers pick up food from the Oregon Food Bank, grocery stores in the area and the Farmers Market when it is open. This food is then distributed to about 200 needy families per week. We could use imperfect produce! Can you donate some to us?
Imperfect
February 1, 2019 at 9:20 pmWhat an awesome program! We’d be happy to work with you. Please shoot us an email at donations@imperfectproduce.com and we’ll be in touch!
Steven Tu
January 31, 2019 at 7:36 amI’ve been a customer for about a year. I haven’t order as often and as much as I wish I would. Love the concept of preventing waste food which should be dirt cheap so I can order by the ton. I spent almost twenty bucks and get a box 1/4 filled with a few things in there. I feel like buying gourmet food. I hope you can bring prices down to half of if not more than what you would pay at regular markets. Understand that IP needs to make profit, and we are also talking about cheep food what could have been left to rot.
Imperfect
February 1, 2019 at 9:20 pmHey Steven,
Thanks for sharing this honest feedback with us about our prices. We aim to offer a 30% savings compared to grocery stores with every box that we deliver. The prices that we charge allow us to pay a fair market price to our growers as well as provide good jobs with full benefits to our employees.
Ivy Agi Widman
January 31, 2019 at 4:57 pmI appreciate the idea behind Imperfect, and I always wondered where not-so-pretty produce was going. However, I think sub-standard produce SHOULD and DOES go to food banks, so I would appreciate full transparency on this issue when you’re doing your pitch. Most of your customers are probably on board with the idea of reducing food waste, but I’m sure most of us would also want to make sure food banks are not being shortchanged for profit.
Imperfect
February 1, 2019 at 9:20 pmHey Ivy,
You bring up a great point. To be really transparent about this, the reality is that “ugly” produce can, does, and absolutely should go to food banks, but there are still billions of pounds of produce that never get picked and go to waste on farms every year. Sourcing ugly produce and making sure that food banks have access to fresh produce are not mutually exclusive. In our experience, they’re complimentary. We partner with food banks and nonprofits in every city we deliver in and have donated over 1.7 million pounds of produce to them to date. We’re planning on growing this number as we scale and looking for ways to make our impact on food banks even more positive than it already is. You can learn more about our impact on food banks on our website: https://www.imperfectproduce.com/donations