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Hydroponics farming could help reduce Nigeria's spiraling youth unemployment rate

Justice Nwafor

October 19, 2020 |

Nigerian Tribune |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Nigeria

By using an agricultural technique that doesn’t use soil to grow crops, a farmer is upending the traditional farming practices in Nigeria and offering job opportunities to those who might otherwise be unemployed. Hydroponics farming is a type of horticulture that grows plants without soil by using mineral nutrient solutions. BIC Farms utilizes the method, which can reduce crop water consumption, and has trained more than 12,000 people on the soilless farming technique. Hydroponics can also help farmers reduce food waste and post-harvest losses.

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How a #Litterati army on Instagram sparked a global fight against litter

Michael J. Coren

October 12, 2020 |

Hothouse Solutions |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

What started as a small group of people taking pictures of waste in their communities and tagging it on Instagram with the hashtag #Litterati, turned into a global effort, and even an app, to map and dispose of trash. Users can upload to the app an image of trash and machine-learning algorithm can tag it location, material, and company who made it. The city of San Francisco asked the makers of the app for help documenting cigarette butts and tobacco products on its streets and ended up winning a legal victory over the tobacco industry to increase the taxes on their products.

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Harnessing Food Waste to Empower Communities in Brazil

Agostino Petroni

October 09, 2020 |

Yes! Magazine |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro

Favela Organica is a social enterprise that address food insecurity, increases access to healthy foods, and reduces waste. The founder, Tchelly, has provided free courses to around 30,000 people in Rio’s favelas, mostly women, who learn how to repurpose food waste from local markets and grow produce at home. The premise relies on an integrated food cycle of growing food, utilizing all of it, and creating compost with what is left to fertilize the garden to grow the food. Students use the lessons to lower food costs and, for some, to increase the amount of food they can sell, which adds to monthly incomes.

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Bug Breeders Are Cultivating Waste-Guzzling Flies to Gobble Up America's Trash

Colleen Stinchcombe

October 05, 2020 |

Future Human |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Camas, Washington

A growing number of bug breeders in the United States are raising black soldier flies to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, land degradation, and food waste. The larvae can convert waste into fertilizer for crops, while also reducing carbon dioxide emissions. In one experiment at Louisiana State University, about two tons of cafeteria food waste is processed by the fly larvae. Creating a similiar system on a larger scale for municipalities can be expensive, but the flies could be a multifaceted solution to the country’s trash problem.

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Would You Eat Food Waste To Help Tackle The Climate Crisis? These Companies Are Betting On It.

Kyla Mandel

September 23, 2020 |

The Huffington Post |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Companies around the world are investing in “food upcycling,” which involves turning food waste that would usually end up in a landfill into new edible products. In 2019, member companies of the Upcycled Food Association — which includes pet food, juice, and snack brands — helped prevent 8 million pounds of food waste. Though scaling these operations can be difficult, the food upcycling sector was worth $46.7 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow.

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The luxury of food waste

Thomas McMullan

September 14, 2020 |

Hothouse Solutions |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United Kingdom, London

At St George the Martyr church in London, an initiative to offer food to people that would otherwise have been wasted is taking on new meaning due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The “community fridge” started in 2019 as a way to combat the environmental impacts of food waste by giving away free fruit, vegetables, milk, bread, and meat, and was helping up to 20 people each week. Now, more than 100 people have turned up because they’re experiencing economic hardship and social distancing restrictions is making it a challenge to deliver food to those who need it.

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Shared solar fridges prevent massive waste in Nigerian markets

Morgane le Cam

August 24, 2020 |

Heidi.news |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Nigeria, Obinze

In Nigeria, shared solar refrigerators known as "ColdHubs" have allowed food producers and sellers to preserve their perishable goods and avoid throwing away many of their products. Throughout the region, 3,500 producers and retailers have used these containers with many doubling their monthly income.

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2.4 million pounds and counting: How sending surplus crops to food banks is helping Washington farmers and hungry families

Scott Hanson

July 21, 2020 |

The Seattle Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington

When the economy came to a sudden halt with the onset of a global pandemic, farmers were left with produce meant for the restaurant industry while families who lost incomes struggled to put food on their tables. For one good samaritan “it was just a matter of connecting the dots.” George Ahearn's idea to crowdsource transportation from farms to food banks led to the creation of EastWest Food Rescue, a nonprofit that has delivered 2.4 million pounds of crops to 160 food banks.

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Direct-selling helps Indian farmers swerve food waste under lockdown

Mary-Rose Abraham

May 27, 2020 |

Deutsche Welle (DW) |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Bengaluru, Karnataka

As the spread of COVID-19 forced residents of Bengaluru into lockdown, farmers had to get creative to sell their goods and turned to social media channels to directly connect to consumers. For example, the Farm to Fork Bangalore Facebook page allowed a grape grower to sell about 400 kilograms of his crops that otherwise would have gone to waste. While direct-selling can be challenging for those who are not in urban centers, many farmers are rethinking their business models.

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Brazilian Farmers Hatch A Plan To Send Healthy Food To The Favelas

Patrícia Monteiro

May 24, 2020 |

NPR |

Photojournalism |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Brazil, São Paulo

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rafael Duckur, an organic food producer in Brazil, started Pertim, a network of farmers working to help families in neighborhoods who can’t meet their basic needs. The group buys food like fruits, vegetables, eggs, and coffee from farmers to fill boxes that are sent to the neighborhoods. While the logistics of collecting and distributing the boxes can be difficult, Pertim hopes to cut down on food waste from unsold produce while supporting local agriculture producers.

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