[Music]
every year 20 billion pounds of produce
is wasted in North America these veggies
would cost 50 billion if sold in grocery
stores that’s more than the annual
governmental spending of the world 75
smallest countries combined and if all
cucumbers stacked end to end would reach
from this theater to the moon and back
eight times that’s every year
unfortunately much of this waste comes
at the direct expense of local farmers
perfectly good fruits and vegetables
that are fresh delicious and nutritious
just a little too ugly for grocery store
shelves a two-legged carrot a cucumber
that leans to the left a pepper that’s
misshapen or an eggplant that looks like
grandpa’s face let me ask you a question
when was the last time you saw anything
other than perfect looking produce at
your local grocery store
farmers are great at what they do but
just like veggies in your backyard
garden mother nature does have a say in
how produce grows and just like any of
us they’re not always perfect in a
recent independent blind taste test 10
out of 10 people could not taste the
difference between a supermodel carrot
and one with 3 legs
depending on how you farm and what you
grow as much as 30% of your harvest can
be lost simply due to size shape or
color these perfectly good fruits and
vegetables may be hold to the local
landfill or simply tilt back into the
soil
this becomes an added expense to farmers
that delivers no benefit to their bottom
line
imagine how agriculture would change if
farmers could sell their whole crop
every year instead of 70% of the
best-lookin product would the price of
produce go down
would more people be willing to get into
farming if they had the opportunity to
make a comfortable living for their
endless hard work if families regardless
of income had affordable access to fresh
produce would they eat more resulting in
stronger healthier lifestyles just
imagine the impact this could have
sometimes our biggest problems have the
simplest solutions and come from the
most unlikely voices I have identical
triplet boys now 16 years old with
brand-new driver’s licenses like many
teenagers they’re consumed with sports
friends and social media I think there’s
a couple of TED talks about raising
triplets but we’ll save those for
another time in the spring of 2014 they
were in the seventh grade and being
influenced by a talented teacher named
mr. Davidson who was teaching his class
the importance of reducing your
environmental footprint all of a sudden
at home we had to time our showers by a
composter and answer to the entire
family if a plastic bottle ended up in
the garbage cans around that time I took
the family to our local greenhouses to
see how food was grown along the tour we
came across several dumpsters full of
cucumbers and tomatoes the boy stopped
and asked me why they were being thrown
out I told him they were ugly veggies
and pointed out how the cucumber’s look
like boomerangs Viking clubs or were
simply too short one of the boys reached
into the dumpster grabbed a cucumber
took a bite and quickly declared there
was nothing wrong with it I acknowledged
that he was right but they were
funny-looking
so grocery stores wouldn’t buy them I
didn’t give it a second thought
this is the way the produce industry has
been for decades we moved along with the
tour but the boys continued to think
about it later that day on the drive
home these wasted veggies were all they
wanted to talk about why are you
throwing them away wouldn’t somebody
want to eat them dad it’s just wrong you
have to do something about it
that was the start of an adventure
titled misfits rise of the rejects a few
months later the misfits debuted we
started by offering crooked cucumbers
and tomatoes there were little too green
or a little too small with a vision of
some day offering any produce that’s
perfectly fresh and delicious but
visually a bit of a misfit the best part
is everyone wins
farmers win but when they have the
opportunity to sell their entire crop
grocers win by offering delicious fruits
and vegetables at a discounted cost and
Families win by supporting a program
that’s environmentally friendly while
eating healthy and saving some money on
their grocery bills our test market was
in Western Canada the results were
amazing
misfits sold out every week and shoppers
rushed to find stores that carried these
superheroes our underdogs quickly became
front-page news media across the country
and around the world celebrated the
program at stores that supported it the
u.s. quickly took notice and stores
coast-to-coast started offering these
imperfect veggies something was
happening were people starting to
realize that imperfect produce could
simply taste perfect excitement and
positive results continued for the next
couple of years
today the misfits are the
longest-running most successful ugly
produce program on the planet
we offer 26 different kinds of veggies
and have saved American families close
to 10 million dollars all while rescuing
over 3 million pounds of produce from
landfills across the country with all
this great success there’s such an
opportunity in front of us today in
North America about a thousand stores
offer ugly produce programs this means
there’s 80,000 more they can still learn
how great imperfect produce can taste if
all 80,000 stores offered such programs
we would rescue enough food every year
to feed every man woman and child in the
great state of Nevada three meals a day
seven days a week 365 days of the year
so how do we get there I call on grocery
stores across the country and around the
world to embrace ugly produce build a
program with your current supplier or
ask about the misfits it’s a change in
traditional thinking never compromise on
taste or freshness but remember perfect
produce comes in all shapes and sizes as
consumers we need to speak up and take
action
tell your local grocery stores you want
them to carry ugly produce to find
stores that do search Misfits produce
online or follow our superheroes on
social media once you find a store try
some find out firsthand how great
produce can taste even if it’s a little
imperfect after all we’re all misfits
and our imperfections are what make us
interesting thank you
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
every year 20 billion pounds of produce
is wasted in North America these veggies
would cost 50 billion if sold in grocery
stores that’s more than the annual
governmental spending of the world 75
smallest countries combined and if all
cucumbers stacked end to end would reach
from this theater to the moon and back
eight times that’s every year
unfortunately much of this waste comes
at the direct expense of local farmers
perfectly good fruits and vegetables
that are fresh delicious and nutritious
just a little too ugly for grocery store
shelves a two-legged carrot a cucumber
that leans to the left a pepper that’s
misshapen or an eggplant that looks like
grandpa’s face let me ask you a question
when was the last time you saw anything
other than perfect looking produce at
your local grocery store
farmers are great at what they do but
just like veggies in your backyard
garden mother nature does have a say in
how produce grows and just like any of
us they’re not always perfect in a
recent independent blind taste test 10
out of 10 people could not taste the
difference between a supermodel carrot
and one with 3 legs
depending on how you farm and what you
grow as much as 30% of your harvest can
be lost simply due to size shape or
color these perfectly good fruits and
vegetables may be hold to the local
landfill or simply tilt back into the
soil
this becomes an added expense to farmers
that delivers no benefit to their bottom
line
imagine how agriculture would change if
farmers could sell their whole crop
every year instead of 70% of the
best-lookin product would the price of
produce go down
would more people be willing to get into
farming if they had the opportunity to
make a comfortable living for their
endless hard work if families regardless
of income had affordable access to fresh
produce would they eat more resulting in
stronger healthier lifestyles just
imagine the impact this could have
sometimes our biggest problems have the
simplest solutions and come from the
most unlikely voices I have identical
triplet boys now 16 years old with
brand-new driver’s licenses like many
teenagers they’re consumed with sports
friends and social media I think there’s
a couple of TED talks about raising
triplets but we’ll save those for
another time in the spring of 2014 they
were in the seventh grade and being
influenced by a talented teacher named
mr. Davidson who was teaching his class
the importance of reducing your
environmental footprint all of a sudden
at home we had to time our showers by a
composter and answer to the entire
family if a plastic bottle ended up in
the garbage cans around that time I took
the family to our local greenhouses to
see how food was grown along the tour we
came across several dumpsters full of
cucumbers and tomatoes the boy stopped
and asked me why they were being thrown
out I told him they were ugly veggies
and pointed out how the cucumber’s look
like boomerangs Viking clubs or were
simply too short one of the boys reached
into the dumpster grabbed a cucumber
took a bite and quickly declared there
was nothing wrong with it I acknowledged
that he was right but they were
funny-looking
so grocery stores wouldn’t buy them I
didn’t give it a second thought
this is the way the produce industry has
been for decades we moved along with the
tour but the boys continued to think
about it later that day on the drive
home these wasted veggies were all they
wanted to talk about why are you
throwing them away wouldn’t somebody
want to eat them dad it’s just wrong you
have to do something about it
that was the start of an adventure
titled misfits rise of the rejects a few
months later the misfits debuted we
started by offering crooked cucumbers
and tomatoes there were little too green
or a little too small with a vision of
some day offering any produce that’s
perfectly fresh and delicious but
visually a bit of a misfit the best part
is everyone wins
farmers win but when they have the
opportunity to sell their entire crop
grocers win by offering delicious fruits
and vegetables at a discounted cost and
Families win by supporting a program
that’s environmentally friendly while
eating healthy and saving some money on
their grocery bills our test market was
in Western Canada the results were
amazing
misfits sold out every week and shoppers
rushed to find stores that carried these
superheroes our underdogs quickly became
front-page news media across the country
and around the world celebrated the
program at stores that supported it the
u.s. quickly took notice and stores
coast-to-coast started offering these
imperfect veggies something was
happening were people starting to
realize that imperfect produce could
simply taste perfect excitement and
positive results continued for the next
couple of years
today the misfits are the
longest-running most successful ugly
produce program on the planet
we offer 26 different kinds of veggies
and have saved American families close
to 10 million dollars all while rescuing
over 3 million pounds of produce from
landfills across the country with all
this great success there’s such an
opportunity in front of us today in
North America about a thousand stores
offer ugly produce programs this means
there’s 80,000 more they can still learn
how great imperfect produce can taste if
all 80,000 stores offered such programs
we would rescue enough food every year
to feed every man woman and child in the
great state of Nevada three meals a day
seven days a week 365 days of the year
so how do we get there I call on grocery
stores across the country and around the
world to embrace ugly produce build a
program with your current supplier or
ask about the misfits it’s a change in
traditional thinking never compromise on
taste or freshness but remember perfect
produce comes in all shapes and sizes as
consumers we need to speak up and take
action
tell your local grocery stores you want
them to carry ugly produce to find
stores that do search Misfits produce
online or follow our superheroes on
social media once you find a store try
some find out firsthand how great
produce can taste even if it’s a little
imperfect after all we’re all misfits
and our imperfections are what make us
interesting thank you
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: