Wonky veg: ‘Nature has a sense of humour, it doesn’t always grow to our standards’

This significant wastage of “wonky” produce before it reaches the shop shelves has become a part of the wider discussion this year as the Irish horticultural industry continues to decline.

Dominika Wdoviak, Una Ní Bhroin and Trish Masterson with a display of the wonky vegetables at Beechlawn Organic Farm in Ballinasloe. Picture: Ray Ryan

Small blemishes, oversizing, unusually shaped or discolouration — little quirks, at worst — but their presence on fresh produce can be enough for them to be deemed worthless.

With around a third of the food produced globally for human consumption lost or wasted, it would appear insensible that produce is discarded in volumes because of such quirks.