Giving Compass' Take:

• Food Tank highlights a venture-backed technology startup, FoodMaven, that is tackling the industrial food waste problem by allowing food producers and suppliers to earn a profit from once landfill-destined food.

• How can funders work together to stop food waste? How can we resolve this problem in other countries?

• Here's an article on inspirational people working to solve this issue. 

FoodMaven’s passion for reducing industrial food waste comes from Chief Executive Officer Patrick Bultema’s farming heritage. He grew up in the immigrant farming community of Richvale, CA where his entire extended family are farmers dating back many generations. Bultema tells Food Tank, “My grandfather taught me a deep sense of stewardship for food and the land. He told me that if I took care of the land, it would take care of me.”

FoodMaven is a for-profit startup that boasts investors such as the Walton family (Walmart founders) and continues to expand and make acquisitions. It has relationships with some of the largest food companies in the country with new announcements coming soon demonstrating an industry desire to tackle food waste through advanced technology.

After leaving the family farm, Bultema initiated technology-focused startups and wrote eight computer science books while also studying Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data. And he became more interested in food waste. He learned that uncovering the cause of industrial food waste would not be easy due to the industry’s desire to avoid addressing the long-standing problem. In 2015, Bultema established FoodMaven, combining his computer science skills with his farming experience.

Read the full article on FoodMaven and stopping food waste through technology by Stacey Wilcox at Food Tank.