“When food is wasted, all of the time, energy, and other inputs (natural and artificial) that went into its production are lost.  The economic loss is felt at every step in the value chain, and the losses are amplified if we fail to make productive use of that food waste.  In living systems, the waste of one process becomes food for another.  There is no reason why we cannot take inspiration from that approach and use food waste as a feedstock for animals, or to produce fertiliser, compost and energy.

Working on ideas precisely like that is the Agrocycle for a Circular Economy partnership programme between the European Commission and the Government of China.  Agro Cycle is undertaking a full systems analysis of agri-food waste value chains, from ‘farm-to-table’, including livestock and crop production, food processing and the retail sector.  The applied research from this partnership will result in an ‘AgroCycle Protocol’ that will deliver waste valorisation pathways to help achieve the European policy target of reducing food waste by 50% by 2030, as well as contributing to the wave of change currently occurring in China around this agenda.” Disruptive Innovation Festival (DIF) 2016

Don’t miss Professor Shane Ward’s talk on Wednesday 9th at 13:00 (GMT) where he will share AgroCycle’s research and take questions from you.

The live stream will be available here at the time and date specified above.