Where have all the agri-food policy experts gone?
Gone from Defra, every one? Not quite, it seems, but many had by the end of 2019.(1)
Read Food System Transformation #8: The geometry of the box [we need to think outside of]
Biologist Jack Cohen, one of the New Optimists scientists, used to say that you cannot ‘think outside of the box’ unless you know the geometry of it very well indeed.
Read National Food Strategy #5: Global risks to UK food supplies
This blogpost lists the global risks to UK food supplies — and that of course includes supplies into Birmingham.
Read National Food Strategy #1: The brief
Last June, the Secretary of State (then Michael Gove) commissioned Henry Dimbleby to conduct an independent review to help the government create its first National Food Strategy for 75 years.
Read What Michael Gove didn’t talk about at #OFC2018
What Michael Gove didn’t say in this speech to the Oxford Farming Conference yesterday was far more significant than what he did. He didn’t say a word about food security. Yet food shortages, and looming food insecurity can be...
Read For every £1 spent on food & drink in Birmingham, it costs the city £0.90
Few realise just how much the dietary effects of the food and drink sector cost us here in Birmingham, as in every city across the UK.
Read The UK’s food trade deficit . . . & Brexit
In 2014, Defra’s annual stats reported our food trade deficit was £26.8bn; the UK imported £39.6bn of agri-food products, and exported £12.8bn.
Read Sugar tax?
The notion of a sugar tax has undoubtedly had impact. But how feasible is such a tax, and what effect would it have? Lawyer Jessica Burt recently wrote a Guardian article A sugar tax won’t work. And here’s why. Following on...
Read Sustainable Food for Cities? It’s a numbers game, not a community food growing game
I went to the Sustainable Food Cities Conference in Bristol last week. I’ve written about the thought-provoking session on food poverty I heard here. I had many interesting conversations there, but some of the themes of the conference seemed...
Read If acute hunger is here to stay . . .
If acute hunger is here to stay, what’s the nature of the infrastructure Birmingham could put in place to ensure reliable food supply delivery to all our citizens in the future? The answers to that question will be explored at...
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