2016 Conference: Brian Lipinski

Conference Speakers

Mr Brian Lipinski
Research Associate, World Resources Institute

Brian Lipinski is a research associate with the Food Program at the World Resources Institute (WRI). During his time at WRI, he has worked extensively on the topic of food loss and waste, having served as the lead author on the paper ‘Reducing Food Loss and Waste’.

That paper then led to the development of the Food Loss & Waste Protocol, a multi-stakeholder effort to develop the global accounting and reporting standard for quantifying food and associated inedible parts removed from the food supply chain. This work will enable a wide range of entities—countries, companies and other organizations—to account for and report in a credible, practical and internationally consistent manner how much food loss and waste is created and identify where it occurs, enabling the targeting of efforts to reduce it.

Brian also serves as part of the secretariat for Champions 12.3, a unique coalition of executives from governments, businesses, international organizations, research institutions, and civil society dedicated to inspiring ambition, mobilizing action, and accelerating progress toward reducing food loss and waste. He holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources, and resides in Washington, D.C.

The Complex Picture of On-Farm Loss

Abstract

Losses at the farm level are among the least understood aspects of food loss and waste throughout the value chain. Estimates differ greatly, and depending on the crop, geographic region, and infrastructure available, drivers behind on-farm losses differ greatly as well, as do the solutions necessary to address these losses. This complexity makes it difficult to identify just where to address interventions to reduce food loss at the farm level.

This presentation will seek to examine what is known about on-farm losses, identify major gaps in knowledge, and propose steps forward for how to demystify the nature of food loss at the production level. A special emphasis will be placed on quantification and measurement of food loss, since the lack of data available around this issue area is a major barrier to understanding what the best approaches for reduction are. The focus will then shift to solutions to food loss, which will primarily be highlighted through the case studies being offered by the additional speakers in the session.