Infographic of the Week: The Two Sides of the Food Crisis

Food+Tech, Infographics — By on October 21, 2011 2:08 pm

[Food+Tech Connect will be featuring an "Infographic of the Week" each Friday, featuring and analyzing one visualization about food or agriculture published in the last week.  Please send ideas to beth@foodtechconnect.com]

The “Food Crisis” is a complex phenomena taking place on a global scale, with many different effects and impacts on state, local and individual levels.  The Public Health Program created an infographic to look at “The Two Sides of the Food Crisis,” and to untangle the many factors causing the crisis.

While a fascinating graphic based on solid data from some of the world’s most reputable sources on the subject, the title is misleading.

Unfortunately, there are many sides to the crisis, and in many ways “waste and want” (the two gauges used by Public Health) are unrelated.  We cannot send our uneaten broccoli to Somalia for a hungry child to consume, and “waste” in developing nations comes in a very different form than it does in developed nations.

Luckily, the graphic points out the biggest causes of waste under “factors” – potentially fodder for another informational graphic (the FAO in fact lists studies of such waste, like this one on Milk Spoilage in Eastern Africa)

Additionally, the information for the graphic comes from a variety of top sources, from journalistic outfits like the New York Times, to large UN organizations like the Food and Agriculture Organization.  This gives the graphic credibility and depth – an essential part of any visualization.

/ via Fast Company

About Beth Hoffman:
Beth Hoffman has reported on food and agriculture for ten years, airing on NPR, The World, Latino USA, Living on Earth, KUER and KALW , and studied the food system in depth as a fellow and co-lecturer in the Africa Reporting Project at UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism. Hoffman competed a year long documentary project cooking with immigrant women in their homes, has traveled to India, Uganda and Ethiopia to report on rice production and chicken farming, and did a multipart series for KUER on the artistic, cultural and environmental connections we have to food. In addition to spending many hours on-farm in Utah, California and abroad, Hoffman also married into an Iowa farm family and is currently working with her husband to slowly convert the land into a sustainable orchard and hog farm. She currently lives in Albany, California. Hoffman’s previous work can be found on her website at bethaudio.com.
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