Tag Archives: food security

#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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Saving and using Mexico’s fantastic #tomato agricultural #biodiversity

Posted on 9 November 2018 by

Tomatoes have spread into cuisines around the world but most commercial varieties have a narrow genetic base and only grow well in optimum conditions often in greenhouses. As climate changes and interest in the fruit’s nutritional properties grows, drawing on … Continue reading →

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Future #Food #Sustainability and research needs for the UK and EU facing #Brexit?

Posted on 23 July 2018 by

I was at an horizon scanning workshop organised by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics last week to discuss the future of food sustainability in the UK. It was run under the Chatham House rule, which means you can say things … Continue reading →

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The many arguments for urgent #climate action – in 32 A5 pages

Posted on 1 June 2018 by

How do you convince governments to take more urgent action on climate change? When ministries spend so much of their time, as one ex-downing street advisor once said to me, firefighting the immediate problems of the day? The authors of … Continue reading →

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Getting the facts straight about #foodinsecurity

Posted on 3 October 2017 by

I just wrote this blog for the #EndHungerUK campaign, prior to its national conference on 17th  October in London In September 2015, the British Government committed itself to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition. It was then that the … Continue reading →

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How the #commodities casino creates #hunger and unrest – an interview with Alan Bjerga

Posted on 1 September 2016 by

Earlier this summer a group of northern universities – the n8 – launched their agrifood strategy in Manchester. One of the speakers was Alan Bjerga, who writes about food and commodities for Bloomberg News. He is also author of the … Continue reading →

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