Ohio State professor Brian Roe to manage $2.5 million USDA-funded food-waste-reduction initiative

Brian Roe, Ohio State’s Fred N. VanBuren professor of farm management, said “about 30% of food that people bring into their homes is often never eaten.” Credit: DML/Star Tribune (via TNS) [Original caption: To meet its goals for a zero waste future, Hennepin County wants more residents to compost food scraps and other organic waste. However, county officials recently decided to abandon a plan to build an anaerobic digester near the Brooklyn Park Transfer Center where garbage is recycled or sent to disposal sites.]

Ohio State is partnering with Rutgers University to implement consumer-focused waste reduction and education campaigns in three currently undecided U.S. cities, Roe said. The project’s other branch will be led by Rutgers, which will create a “community of practice” where people like extension educators or public service workers can start food-waste-reduction programs, all while receiving advice and materials from the Ohio State and Rutgers teams. 

Ohio State and Rutgers will evaluate the success of the three-year pilot campaign, and the information they gather may help inform future programs the federal government is looking to execute, Roe said.

Roe said the educational campaigns will inform consumers about more appropriately planning meals, using leftovers, efficiently storing food and increasing awareness of food date labels.

“Materials like that can help consumers reduce the amount of food that they’re wasting, which usually results in financial savings for those homes because about 30% of food that people bring into their homes is often never eaten,” Roe said. “And that can be a financial threat right there.”

Food waste can cause financial issues because people spend money on food that ends up thrown away, Roe said.

“Most households typically spend over $1,000 a year on food they never eat,” Roe said. “And so, financially speaking, it can have a big budget impact on households. And then if you’re creating a third of food that never gets eaten, that drives up overall prices of food.”

Roe said food waste also poses issues related to global warming.

“There are emissions that are created at every stage in the food production and transportation and processing supply chain,” Roe said. “And when people don’t eat that food, a vast majority of it goes into a landfill. And once in a landfill, it typically creates methane, a very fast-acting greenhouse gas, which can have a very potent effect on global warming and climate change.”

Amy Ando, professor and chair of the department of agricultural, environmental and development economics — also known as AEDE — said in an email that Roe is at the forefront of food waste research.

“Dr. Roe is really a national leader in research, teaching, and engagement to cut food waste and the pollution flows that go along with it,” Ando said. “He’s done pathbreaking research to help us understand causes of food waste, like household responses to food labels.”

Though the project is scheduled to run for three years, Roe hopes to complete the pilot campaigns within the first two years so his team can inform a community of practitioners across the country about best practices.

“[Roe]  works with OSU students on food waste initiatives and is promoting a food waste curriculum through 4H for younger learners,” Ando said. “And he has engaged with USDA and EPA to shape national policy reducing food loss and waste. Our department, AEDE, works to enhance agricultural systems, environmental quality, and human well-being — Brian’s work is a shining example of that mission.”