According to a study that looked at the food purchasing and consumption behavior of nearly 4,000 families in the United States, about a third of food is thrown out at a cost of $1,866 each year per household. Study author Dr. Edward Jaenicke writes, “Our findings are consistent with previous studies, which have shown that 30% to 40% of the total food supply in the United States goes uneaten—and that means that resources used to produce the uneaten food, including land, energy, water and labor, are wasted as well.”

American Journal of Agricultural Economics, January 2020