More than one-third of food produced in the United States is thrown out, according to a report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which said the nation is falling far short of a 2015 goal to reduce that waste by half by 2030. Food waste represents billions of dollars in lost value and poses a climate threat because much of the waste is placed in landfills where it generates the greenhouse gas methane, the EPA said. “As the United States strives to meet the Paris Agreement targets to limit the increase in global temperature to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, changes to the food system are essential,” the EPA said in its report, published Dec. 1.