Global Farm Loss Tool Guidance 2.0

The Global Farm Loss Tool (GFLT) is a measurement framework designed for growers of specialty crops to quantify food that reaches maturity but does not enter the human consumption supply chain. The guidance outlines methodologies for in-field sampling and direct weighing, as well as tracking losses in subsequent on-farm stages such as packinghouses, processing facilities, and storage. By categorizing losses as marketable, edible but not marketable, or spoiled, the tool helps growers and buyers identify operational efficiencies and secondary market opportunities. Additionally, the GFLT integrates calculations to estimate the associated greenhouse gas emissions and water use impacts of these losses, allowing users to track intensity reductions following interventions.

• The GFLT is designed to measure food loss specifically for crops intended for human consumption that have reached maturity but are not used, covering stages from the field through on-farm transportation, packinghouses, processing, storage, and rejected products returned to the farm.
• The tool categorizes unharvested or lost crops into three distinct quality levels to help determine the potential for surplus recovery: marketable (meets buyer specifications), edible but not marketable (safe for consumption but fails specifications), and spoiled (damaged, diseased, or decayed).
• For in-field loss, the guidance recommends a sampling methodology involving the harvest of all remaining product from at least three representative rows or plots (e.g., 50 feet for rows or 10-foot by 10-foot plots for trees), which is then extrapolated to the total harvested area.
• The GFLT accounts for weight changes caused by moisture fluctuation during on-farm stages, ensuring that physical product loss is not overstated by using initial and final moisture content percentages in its calculations.
• The tool estimates environmental impacts by multiplying total loss in kilograms by per-kilogram intensity factors for greenhouse gas emissions and water use, utilizing data from sources such as FAOSTAT and Wageningen University.
• The GFLT allows users to quantify the effectiveness of interventions by comparing pre- and post-intervention water and GHG intensity, calculating the percentage reduction in environmental impact per kilogram of harvested crop.

APA

WWF International (n.d.). Global Farm Loss Tool Guidance 2.0. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/2502/GFLT_Guidance_Manual_2.0_4_29.pdf

Chicago

WWF International. Global Farm Loss Tool Guidance 2.0. n.d. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/2502/GFLT_Guidance_Manual_2.0_4_29.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=Global Farm Loss Tool Guidance 2.0 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/2502/GFLT_Guidance_Manual_2.0_4_29.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternationalndglobal, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{Global Farm Loss Tool Guidance 2.0}}, institution = {WWF International}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/2502/GFLT_Guidance_Manual_2.0_4_29.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }