Media advisory: Ohio State expert to participate in Aug. 21 report release webinar on reducing consumer food waste

What: Brian Roe, a professor of agricultural economics at The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) and the leader of the Ohio State Food Waste Collaborative, will participate in a report release webinar on reducing consumer food waste hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).

When: The webinar is noon Aug. 21. Advance copies of the report, “A National Strategy to Reduce Food Waste at the Consumer Level,” will be available to reporters at noon Aug. 20. The report is embargoed until 11 a.m. Aug. 21. Reporters who wish to obtain embargoed copies should contact the NASEM Office of News and Public Information at 202-334-2138 or email news@nas.edu.

Where: Online via Zoom. Register here. 

Why: To understand the drivers of food waste and to share solutions for reducing food waste and strategies for consumer behavior change.

Background: Approximately 30 percent of the food produced in the United States is wasted each year, and a significant portion of that occurs at the consumer level. Food waste accounts for 15 percent of all solid waste in the United States and contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.

Roe, who is a co-author of the report, is the VanBuren Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics at Ohio State. The VanBuren Professorship Endowment supports an applied program of farm management that benefits both students of farm management and farm clientele.

Roe also leads the Ohio State Food Waste Collaborative, a collection of researchers, practitioners, and students working together to promote the reduction and redirection of food waste as an integral part of a healthy and sustainable food system.

Other speakers in the Aug. 21 webinar, all of whom are members of the committee that developed the report, will be:                        

• Barbara Schneeman (committee chair), professor emerita, University of California, Davis 
• Cait Lamberton, professor of marketing, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
• Roni Neff, associate professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Gail Tavill, owner and president, Packaging & Food Systems Sustainability Consulting LLC