Category Archives: Interviews

Food in a Changing Climate – an Australian perspective from Prof Alana Mann

Posted on 4 March 2021 by Geoff Tansey

Australian Professor Alana Mann discusses some key themes from her recent book ‘Food in a Changing Climate’ in this wide-ranging conversation. She believes Australia could be seen as a case study in what can go badly wrong if you are naive about climate change and our food systems. Continue reading →

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Pharma, food and innovation – time for a rethink, says Prof Graham Dutfield

Posted on 26 February 2021 by Geoff Tansey

Rules on intellectual property and other legal requirements affect food, farming, medicines, biodiversity and are changing the meaning of property. Continue reading →

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Creating #foodsecurity post COVID-19 and reaching zero #hunger – in conversation with Jennifer Clapp

Posted on 28 January 2021 by Geoff Tansey

Prof Clapp discusses the meaning of food security (0-10’25”), the impact of COVID-19 (10’25”-16’10”), issues arising for the Food Systems Summit (16’10”-25’02”) and the challenges to current trade, finance, industry,  and research structures Continue reading →

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We need a small farm future argues Chris Smaje

Posted on 17 December 2020 by Geoff Tansey

In this interview, Chris Smaje discusses his book ‘A Small Farm Future: making the case for a society built around local economies self-provisioning agricultural diversity and a shared earth’. He argues that multiple connected crises facing humanity require a rethink … Continue reading →

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Seed sovereignty under threat – time to reform seed laws, nationally and internationally, says Dr Clare O’Grady Walshe

Posted on 27 November 2020 by Geoff Tansey

Dr Clare O’Grady Walshe studies politics and international relations and wanted to understand the power and political dynamics inherent in changing seed laws, policies, and practices inside countries in the face of globalisation. After a careful study of how the … Continue reading →

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How do you measure the number of hungry people in the world – and why did the numbers drop by some 130 million between 2018-19?

Posted on 26 October 2020 by Geoff Tansey

Although the number of hungry people in the world has been rising for the past 5 years, reaching 690 million in 2019, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report 2020, that total number shows … Continue reading →

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Slavery lies behind today’s diets says historian James Walvin

Posted on 2 October 2020 by Geoff Tansey

What we eat and drink has a history. And when it comes to some ubiquitous things like sugar and coffee, as well as plantation-based commodities, slavery lies at the heart of that history. From his first book ‘A Jamaican Plantation: … Continue reading →

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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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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 Geoff Tansey

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 Geoff Tansey

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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