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Loop Resources: Stemming the waste of grocery store food

Every day, hundreds of farmers descend on grocery stores across Canada to save thousands of pounds of expired groceries from ending up in garbage dumps and landfills, taking what can't be sold and using it to feed their livestock and enrich their garden soil.

Instead of being wasted, farms are able to use wilted lettuce, expired deli meats, sagging watermelons, close-to-expiring dairy, stale bread, coffee grounds and any other discarded product not fit for human consumption to save the earth and ease the burden of rising feed costs for livestock.

The program is based on a simple idea, 

“Food should be put to its highest and best use ... we handle 100 per cent of the in-store, organic waste.” according to Loop Resource's website, the organization that jump-started the program.

Loop Resources was started by a family in Dawson’s Creek and has expanded to over 60 stores in Western Canada alone, and worked with over 2,500 farms in 2022 to help complete the loop and end food waste.

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Episode 107: Think you have a closed herd?

Video: Episode 107: Think you have a closed herd?

Surveys show many producers believe they operate a closed herd, but what does “closed” really mean? For some, it simply means being genetically closed by raising their own replacements and cleanup bulls, using artificial insemination for new genetics and avoiding the purchase of outsourced cattle. However, being a truly closed herd goes far beyond genetics. A closed herd also works to eliminate as many potential sources of disease introduction as possible. In this episode, we take a closer look at what it truly means to run a closed herd.