Category Archives: Conversations

Trade Policy, The Right to Food & COVID-19 – and that’s just starters for Michael Fakhri, 4th Rapportuer on the Right to Food

Posted on 21 August 2020 by Geoff Tansey

Michael Fakhri was appointed as the UN’s 4th Rapporteur on the Right to Food in May 2020. In this conversation he talks candidly about his initial plans and the impact of COVID-19 on them. His first report, due in September … Continue reading →

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Compassionate #meat eating – less and better respecting sentient animals says Joyce D’Silva

Posted on 28 November 2019 by Geoff Tansey

About 20 years ago I was commissioned to edit a book based on the papers from the Compassion in World Farming’s (CIWF) 1998 conference ‘An Agriculture for the New Millennium – Animal Welfare, Poverty and Globalisation’. The result was The … Continue reading →

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#Potatoes – Crop of the Future? A discussion with Prof Anton Haverkort

Posted on 11 October 2019 by Geoff Tansey

Forty years ago, when I was working in Turkey, I met another young man called Anton Haverkort, just setting out on his career. He grew up on a potato farm in the Netherlands, studied potatoes, and came to Turkey to … Continue reading →

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Eating Tomorrow – #Agribusiness, Family #Farmers, and the Battle for the Future of #Food

Posted on 12 August 2019 by Geoff Tansey

In this conversation, Timothy A. Wise takes us to Africa, India, Mexico and the USA to explain the key findings in his book ‘Eating Tomorrow: Agribusiness, Family Farmers, and the Battle for the Future of Food‘. He also discusses trade deals … Continue reading →

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Pigs, organics, soils and the future of farming – a conversation with Helen Browning

Posted on 17 January 2019 by Geoff Tansey

Helen Browning is a passionate, committed organic farmer in love with pigs, CEO of the Soil Association, author, instigator and member of the RSA’s Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, business woman and the only person I know who’s been on … Continue reading →

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It’s never, ever just #food: Food history helps us see the world as it is – a conversation with Dr Polly Russell

Posted on 13 June 2018 by Geoff Tansey

It may look like a quaint Victorian book on ice cream but behind it lies a tale of slavery and colonialism, that has shaped the tastes and food systems of today. This is one of the points to emerge in … Continue reading →

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Radical change needed in #farm and #food policies to tackle world’s #obesity crisis – in conversation with Prof Philip James

Posted on 15 May 2018 by Geoff Tansey

In this conversation, one of the world’s leading experts on obesity, Professor Philip James, discusses the origins and nature of the obesity crisis that has developed. He sees its roots in policies originating in the second world war and agricultural … Continue reading →

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#Inequality and why it matters – an interview with Richard Wilkinson, co-author of ‘The Spirit Level- Why #Equality is Better for Everyone’

Posted on 24 May 2017 by Geoff Tansey

Earlier this year the authors of a widely read book that examined why equality is better for everyone gave a lecture locally. I had a chance to interview one of the authors, Prof Richard Wilkinson, Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology … Continue reading →

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#Chicken, the charismatic #supermarket, cultural economy of #power and #quinoa – in conversation with Jane Dixon

Posted on 5 March 2017 by Geoff Tansey

What connects chicken and quinoa? That’s what I wanted to ask Prof Jane Dixon when I met her last month in London near the end of her time as Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor at the Centre for Food Policy, City, University … Continue reading →

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From #diet for a small planet, to myths about world #hunger to living democracy and hope – a conversation with Frances Moore Lappé

Posted on 16 August 2016 by Geoff Tansey

It was quite fitting that Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) invited Frances Moore Lappé to give a keynote speech at its 2nd birthday party in mid-July. Frances has had a huge impact with her work spanning … Continue reading →

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