Reducing Food Loss and Waste Along the Supply Chain: Ideas for Advancing Its Economic Assessment

In this dissertation, I assess the economic effects of reducing food loss and waste (FLW) along the supply chain. Data suggests that 30 to 40 percent of the global food production is lost or wasted. The Sustainable Development Goals aim to reduce FLW by 50 percent, a target that requires careful assessment because food is an essential resource, and these targets are unprecedented. I aim to improve the assessment of FLW reduction policies in this dissertation. After an introduction to the topic, I propose a new FLW abatement cost function in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3, I extend this cost function by adding scale effects and inedible FLW. I apply this new abatement cost function to a farm model that disentangles food losses before, during, and after harvest in Chapter 4. In Chapter 5, I use the new abatement cost function to compare the effects of mandatory and voluntary FLW reduction policies. Chapter 6 concludes this dissertation.