Tag Archives: Farming

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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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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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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Ethics, ecological consciousness and rethinking #agriculture – a lot to digest at Turkish Agricultural and #Food #Ethics Association’s 2nd International Congress

Posted on 18 November 2019 by Geoff Tansey

A wide range of issues across food and farming were discussed at the 2nd International Agricultural and Food Ethics Congress organised by the Turkish Agricultural and Food Ethics Association. The congress was held on 24-25 October 2019 in Izmir, Turkey, … 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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Resilience in the UK #foodsystem – 4 key questions

Posted on 18 September 2019 by Geoff Tansey

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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Rat hairs, hormones and chlorine – why food standards matter in trade deals

Posted on 9 September 2019 by Geoff Tansey

I interviewed Dr Charlie Clutterbuck when his book Bittersweet Brexit came out. Given the many stories about the impact of trade deals, particularly with the USA, on current food standards in the UK I asked him for his take on … Continue reading →

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Feeding history: the politics of #food

Posted on 26 March 2019 by Geoff Tansey

There’s a small room on the right as you go in the main entrance of the British Museum. It is there that I met Yi Chen, curator of the ‘The Asahi Shimbun Displays. Feeding history: the politics of food’ exhibition, … Continue reading →

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