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　　By VOA
　　14 February, 2014

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　　Hello, and welcome to As It Is from VOA Learning English! I'm Katherine Cole in Washington.

　　Food waste is a problem around the world, especially in wealthy nations. Studies estimate that between 30 and 40 percent of the food in wealthy countries is thrown away every year.

　　At the same time, millions of people in the world do not have enough to eat. Christopher Cruise will join us today to investigate some of these issues.

　　Later in the show, Karen Leggett will report on what farmers in the United States are doing to reduce food waste.

　　But first, here is Christopher Cruise.

　　More Than One Billion Tons of Food Wasted Each Year

　　The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says more than a billion tons of food is wasted each year. Much of that waste happens in wealthy nations, but it happens in developing countries as well.

　　Even as all this food is being wasted, it is estimated that one billion people are undernourished, and hundreds of millions of people go to sleep hungry each day.

　　Danielle Nierenberg is the co-founder and president of Food Tank, an organization that studies food issues.

　　"A lot of people in the world -- one out of eight people -- are hungry. And at the same time we have around 1.5 billion people who are obese. So, that excess has consequences not just on our waistlines, but on the environment, on our food security and a whole range of other factors."

　　Ms. Nierenberg says much of the food waste in the developing world is caused by poor infrastructure, like bad roads and storage areas that are too small.

　　In wealthy nations, people are to blame because they buy more than they can eat. Ms. Nierenberg also blames dates that are printed on food containers. These dates tell buyers and sellers what date the food should be sold or eaten by. She says these dates cause people to throw away food too soon.

　　VOA spoke with Ms. Nierenberg when she was in Milan, Italy. She was attending the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition yearly meeting. Officials at the meeting released what they call the Milan Protocol. The document calls on international leaders and policymakers to improve food security.

　　"It not only focuses on food waste, but creating better and more- sustainable agriculture systems, as well as focusing on unhealthy lifestyles and really helping reduce the epidemic of obesity and overweight that is plaguing not just rich countries, but poor countries as well."

　　Ms. Nierenberg says the amount of food wasted each year shows there is already enough food to feed the planet.

　　"The problem of hunger in the world is not one of not having enough food. We produce more than enough food for every man, woman and child to eat every day. Yet, it's political reasons. It's poverty, certainly, that prevents food from getting to people who need it the most."

　　I'm Christopher Cruise.

　　You are listening to As It Is from VOA Learning English. I'm Katherine Cole.

　　A lot of people look at the United States as a rich country. Yet many American farmers are struggling financially. How do they deal with wasted food and unused crops? As Karen Leggett reports, some are using social media to help solve the problem.

　　Social Media Helps Farmers

　　A CropMobster gleaning, collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields to avoid food waste. (Photo by Gary Cedar)The United States Department of Agriculture found that more than half of the small farms in California do not make a profit.

　　One California farm family is using social media in an effort to change the situation and reduce wasted food. Nick Papadopoulos is general manager of Bloomfield Farms in Sonoma County. It was difficult for him to watch his employees returning from several weekend farmers' markets with top quality, unsold produce. Mr. Papadopoulos said he would find boxes of leafy greens, herbs and carrots left in a storage area. The vegetables would go bad before the next market day.

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