Climate-proofing farms to help feed the world's expanding population needs to be complemented by global measures to cut food losses and waste (see Nature 523, 396–397; 2015).

Roughly one-third of the food produced annually for human consumption — around 1.3 billion tonnes per year — is lost or wasted worldwide (see M. M. Rutten Agric. Food Secur. 2, 13; 2013). In developing economies, more than 40% of food losses occur after harvesting or during processing (see go.nature.com/um7vga).

We should follow the lead of the Asia-Pacific economies, which have pledged to reduce food losses and waste by 10% relative to 2011–12 levels by 2020 (see go.nature.com/rfupkz).