Global food supply chain losses and their impacts on freshwater, cropland, and fertiliser use

What is it about?

We estimate the global food supply losses due to lost and wasted food crops, and the resources used to produce them. We also quantify the potential food supply and resource savings that could be made by reducing food losses and waste.

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Why is it important?

We found that around one quarter of the produced food supply (614 kcal cap-1 day-1) is lost within the food supply chain (FSC). The production of these lost and wasted food crops accounts for 24% of total freshwater resources used in food crop production (27 m3 cap-1 yr-1), 23% of total global cropland area (31×10−3 ha cap-1 yr-1), and 23% of total global fertilizer use (4.3 kg cap-1 yr-1).