Story at a glance
- Pig farmers Zach and Ethan Withers began feeding their livestock leftover discarded food for sustenance.
- Partnering with local grocery stores, breweries and restaurants, the Withers have saved around 75,000 pounds of trash from going to landfills.
- While saving money on pricey feed is certainly a perk, the brothers insist the activism is the real victory.
Food waste is a rampant problem in the United States, and it has received increased attention in recent years. There have been numerous campaigns and solutions to optimize the 40 percent of food that is left uneaten, and they often involve the creative recycling of foods. New companies like Imperfect Produce and Misfits Market fight food waste stemming from foods that don’t meet rigid aesthetic standards. For foods that are too far gone for safe human consumption, two farmers found treasure in other people’s trash.
Polk’s Folly Farm in New Mexico is run by the Wither brothers, Zach and Ethan, who raise pigs for consumption. As chronicled in Mother Jones, the brothers spend time driving to local businesses collecting expired food and leftover scraps. Their idiosyncratic practice has saved approximately 75,000 pounds of trash from ending up in a local landfill.
Pigs and hogs are a durable livestock, but commercial feed can be expensive. Their method began with gleaning, or collecting leftover crops from farms. This practice was the most cost-efficient, and the brothers had no interest in feeding their livestock products engineered with GMOs. Considering one morning can yield almost 10,000 pounds of food — according to the brothers — there appears to be no need.
“People throw away a lot of food because it’s past the sell-by date,” says Zach. “It’s not even expired.” The Withers partner with local nonprofits to sort through this waste to find what is eligible for human consumption and will be donated to food banks, as well as what can be used as hog feed. Some of the most popular food options are discarded cereals from a nearby General Mills plant, as well as tortillas and blue corn.
The meat processing industry has come under increasing fire from climate change activists. A reported 62.1 percent of emissions of greenhouse gases in the swine production industry stems from live animal production. Manure and feed are also top contributors. By keeping food trash out of landfills, the brothers scale back their contribution to the 50 percent of carbon dioxide pollution omitted from landfills. Additionally, the food waste the Withers feed their pigs is also digested and converted to healthier manure and better cuts of pork.
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