Minister McConalogue announces funding for food waste reduction project

Following a recent call for proposals for Food Waste Reduction Initiatives, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D, has announced that the Food Cloud Growers Project will receive €165,000 in funding this year under his Department's Rural Innovation and Development Fund.

FoodCloud's Growers' Project

The projects aims to establish a national programme for the redistribution of surplus food from growers to Community and Volunteer Organisations (CVOs) across Ireland. It will reduce farm level food waste whilst providing fresh, nutritious produce to CVOs supporting those who need it most in communities across the country. The objective of the project will be to redistribute over 150 tonnes of surplus produce via FoodCloud's three redistribution hubs in Dublin, Galway and Cork, making it available to more than 180 CVOs.

DAFM supported the initial research to establish this project as well as a pilot programme which took place in 2023. During the pilot, FoodCloud engaged with five growers and established that there were significant quantities of surplus vegetables available. They redistributed some of the surplus through new partnerships with three Local Development Companies in Donegal, Kerry and Cork and through FoodCloud's existing charity network. The new funding being announced today will go towards expanding the project in scale and ramping up the redistribution of surplus produce.

Minister McConalogue said that

"Food waste reduction initiatives will further enhance the work previously funded to identify, target and address what is a rapidly growing issue not just here in Ireland but globally."

Ireland generates 770,000 tonnes of food waste each year and the Minister concluded saying:

"Irelands commitment to reduce food waste is reflected in national policy documents and my Department's ambitious strategy for the agri-food sector Food Vision 2030 as well as the recently published Food Waste Prevention Road Map. It is now more important than ever to continue to develop initiatives to help to address this issue."

Note for Editors

The Food Waste Reduction project is funded from the Department's Rural Innovation and Development Fund.

About FoodCloud

FoodCloud is a Social Enterprise that tackles climate change and food insecurity by connecting businesses that have surplus food to communities that can use it. By leveraging the power of technology, they match the supply side with the demand side to reduce complexity and make it easier for their partners to collaborate.

FoodCloud is also the partner organisation for the ESF+ Food Support programme in Ireland,

responsible for the procurement, storage and collection by charities of EU-funded food aid to a network of more than 150 eligible charities nationwide. FoodCloud delivers the programme on behalf of the Department of Social Protection (DSP).

In 2022 FoodCloud facilitated the redistribution of over 22,000 tonnes of surplus food to

charities across five countries. In Ireland, FoodCloud redistributed 3,250 of surplus food and

1,231 tonnes of food aid was collected through ESF+ Food Support.

Food Waste Facts

Approximately 2.5bn tonnes of food goes to waste each year, equating to c.40% of all food grown (WWF, 2022). In Ireland, 770,000tn of food is wasted annually (EPA). Within food production 189,485tn of food is lost or wasted before the farm gate or at harbours. Vegetable production accounts for approx.122,395tn/annum. The main reasons relate to produce not meeting retail specifications and seasonal lack of consumer demand. At the same time, 75% of the CVOs that FoodCloud work with report an increase in demand for their services. These CVOs are present in vulnerable communities and provide a much-needed service for those who avail of their support.