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Working together to rescue food

KiwiHarvest

We've teamed up with KiwiHarvest to help on their mission to reduce the amount of good food that is wasted each and every day in New Zealand. By working together, we can make a difference and ensure that rescued food gets to tables in our most vulnerable communities.

Kiwiharvest main banner

About KiwiHarvest

Over 21% of Kiwi children live in households where food runs out sometimes or often.

Food is so often the starting point for social agencies working with their clients to break the cycle of need. Having KiwiHarvest deliver rescued food allows these agencies to concentrate on tackling their core issues, and re-focus their funding on programmes to help their clients.

The high quality, fresh food we provide offers more nutrition than the canned and dry goods that charities have traditionally been able to access, filling a gap for so many who are struggling to feed themselves and their families.

Let’s throw away less food, and save more

The average New Zealand family wastes around $664 worth of food a year. That’s around three full shopping trolleys. Top of the heap is bread – we throw out an average of 20 million loaves each year. That’s a waste of food and our hard-earned dough.

However, you can make sure that food doesn’t go to waste by getting into a few good habits:

  • Shop with a list
  • Plan your meals and only buy what you need
  • Store your bread in the freezer
  • Stew fruit or make smoothies
  • Take your leftovers for lunch.

With a bit of thought, it’s easy to rescue food and save money.

Facing the facts about Food Waste

Every year, it’s estimated New Zealand wastes more than 100,000* tonnes of food.

You might be surprised to know it’s wasted because of use-by dates, mislabelling, damaged packaging or even cancelled orders.

New Zealand’s annual food waste value is approximately $3.2 billion*

At the same time, one in every five Kiwi children live in households^ where there isn’t enough food to put on the table.

Food waste also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, squandering the water, land and energy used to grow it.

At Rabobank we work together with farmers, helping them sustainably grow food for New Zealanders, and the world. The last thing anyone wants to see is any food being wasted, especially when families are going hungry.

That’s why we’ve teamed up with national food rescue charity KiwiHarvest, who are doing something about it.

* Rabobank - KiwiHarvest New Zealand Food Waste Survey 2023

^ Ministry of Health Household Food Insecurity Among Children: New Zealand Health Survey 2019

KiwiHarvest rescues good food to give to those in need

KiwiHarvest is on a mission to reduce the amount of good food that is wasted each and every day, and make sure that it gets to tables in our most vulnerable communities.

Collecting good food before it goes to waste, KiwiHarvest gets it to those in need by distributing it through community groups and social agencies

So far KiwiHarvest has saved over 13 million kilograms of food and delivered over 30 million meals.

Operating in Auckland, the North Shore, Dunedin, Hawkes Bay and Queenstown, KiwiHarvest is now planning to expand and bring their service to more regions.

Right now, one of KiwiHarvest’s greatest challenges is keeping up with offers of quality bulk food, that would otherwise be heading to landfills.

KiwiHarvest is doing a great job, and we’re hungry to help out.

Together we’ll cut food waste and feed more Kiwis

With our help, KiwiHarvest will immediately be able to invest in much needed resources and equipment at its South Auckland warehouse, plus another refrigerated vehicle for collecting food.

Rabobank teams across the country will get involved by providing valuable community volunteering, including helping out at KiwiHarvest’s distribution centres.

Rabobank is a regular at events such as National and Regional Field days where we attract lots of visitors, we’ll spread the word about reducing food waste, supporting families in need and helping the environment.

Globally, approximately 40% of all food produced doesn’t make it to the plate

kiwiharvest

Champions 12.3 coalition to inspire action to reduce food loss and waste

Rabobank is participating in the global Champions 12.3 initiative to raise awareness on the issue of food waste reduction.

More about KiwiHarvest

Find out the full story about how KiwiHarvest collects good food before it goes to waste and distributes it to those in need.

Donate to KiwiHarvest

Every $1 you donate is two meals KiwiHarvest can deliver. This means $5.16* in social benefits to our communities. Please donate and help KiwiHarvest help others.

*New Zealand’s Food Waste: Estimating the Tonnes, Value, Calories and Resources Wasted, 2016