Millions of kilos of food

Farmers Pick, named a Sustainability Leader in the Retail, Hospitality, Tourism and Entertainment category, has saved more than 2.5 million kilos of “imperfect” fresh produce grown in Australia from going to waste, saving customers about 30 per cent on fruit and vegetables.

Started in 2020 when co-founders Josh Ball and Josh Brooks Duncan unpacked a few boxes in a Melbourne apartment, the company now employs 50 people and delivers across most of Victoria, as well as NSW, the ACT and Queensland, reaching about 70 per cent of Australians.

Unrealistic beauty standards are applied to food in Australia, the pair say, which means that 2.4 billion kilos of produce are rejected every year, before they even leave the farm.

If a vegetable or piece of fruit has a small mark or is a “non-standard” shape or size, major supermarkets and other retailers are likely to reject them, leaving it to go to waste.

Farmers Pick was created to prevent “perfectly imperfect” food from being turfed, Ball and Brooks Duncan say, with food waste responsible for 8 per cent of global emissions as well as squandering seeds, water, energy, land, fertiliser, labour and the revenues of farmers.

“Farmers Pick was created to build a more sustainable and affordable food system,” they say.

“The costs of wasted food are carried not by the supermarkets, but by the produc