Problem + Motivation
Food waste always has been a widespread issue that is continuing to be tackled. In the United States, 119 billion pounds of food waste is produced each year. According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), an estimated 58% of fugitive methane emissions in landfills are from landfilled food waste. Fresh produce waste greatly contributes to this statistic as Americans waste 46% of all fruits and vegetables whether it be from poor preservation methods or concluding that they were inedible due to their physical appearances.
With this in mind, we aim to see how rainfall in major fruit production states affects the producer price index (PPI) for fruits, and in turn, affects the amount of predicted waste of fruits. PPI measures the average change in time in selling prices, or the price change from the perspective of the seller. Specifically, we are looking at annual sales of grapes, apples, and oranges and how they are affected by annual precipitation in the US. We hope that with this detailed analysis, we’ll be able to predict future amounts of waste as well as future producer price indexes.