Category Archives: Interviews

Over 50 countries spent over $700bn/year on farm support in 2017-19 says OECD. How? And what have responses to COVID-19 been?

Posted on 17 July 2020 by

Some 54 countries* collectively spent, on average, over $700bn a year supporting agriculture between 2017-19 according the over 500 page Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2020 from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – see Figure 1 below. … Continue reading →

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Sitopia: how food can save the world – an interview with Carolyn Steel

Posted on 15 May 2020 by

In her wide ranging book ‘Sitopia: how food can save the world’ Carolyn Steel aims to provide a tool with which to think – and re-think – the world through food. In this interview, she explains the meaning of the … Continue reading →

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Feeding Britain: our food problems and how to fix them

Posted on 10 May 2020 by

Tim Lang, professor of Food Policy at City University, London, spends 2 years writing Feeding Britain: our food problems and how to fix them and when it comes out it is in the midst of a global pandemic when feeding … Continue reading →

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Food or War: is that the question?

Posted on 7 April 2020 by

Rather foolishly, when I set up my website  some years ago, I wrote that I was thinking of writing a book provisionally entitled Food is a Key to Avoiding World War III. Life has intervened and I haven’t been able … Continue reading →

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

Posted on 11 October 2019 by

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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Resilience in the UK #foodsystem – 4 key questions

Posted on 18 September 2019 by

Resilience is one of the buzzwords of our times. Having a resilient food system is crucial in the light of climate destabilisation, biodiversity loss, and political changes such as will be brought about by Brexit in the UK. So what … Continue reading →

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From #food #waste to #sustainable #foodsystems – digging deep into the reasons why and changes needed

Posted on 13 September 2019 by

Unusually, I spent yesterday, a warm and sunny September day, mostly outdoors in a short-sleeved shirt at a workshop held at the green oasis of Calthorpe Community Garden, near Kings Cross Station in London. Around 30 people had been gathered … 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

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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The complex world of #coffee from grower to drinker – an unexpected global insight in the Pennines

Posted on 17 June 2019 by

As a non-coffee drinker, I’m not the most likely person to go on a visit to a coffee roasters. But I’m glad I did last week. I learnt a lot from Paul Meikle-Janney and Damian Blackburn of Darkwoods coffee, a … Continue reading →

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Food Justice, law, trade and food policy – making links, making changes.

Posted on 5 April 2019 by

What have lawyers got to do with Food Justice? And how do you get lawyers to interact with others tacking food insecurity and hunger. These were some of the issues a range of academics were discussing at a Symposium at … Continue reading →

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