WJ (Willem) Ruster

At Wageningen Economic Research, I manage the program of “Sustainability Management in Agri & Food” (www.wur.eu/improve-sustainability). I have 12 years’ experience in running sustainability assessments in the private sector. In these years, I ran several complex, informal project structures and guided researchers and consultants in projects with among others within farm inputs, agri commodity trade, food & beverage and (development) finance sector.

I focus on the following themes regarding sustainability measurement & improvement:

• Sustainability in tropical commodity value chains
• Climate resilience of agro sourcing
• Rural labour conditions in food chains
• Carbon neutrality of agri & food chains
• IPM and crop protection
• Societal impact and acceptance of new AgTech

I have worked in a wide variety of markets: Europe (>10 countries & EU level), Africa (e.g. DRC, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt; Africa-level), South-East Asia (e.g. Vietnam, Indonesia, The Philippines).

I hold a MSc in Economics with specialization in Development & Environmental economics.