The conference Securing future food explored approaches and models of production that would achieve a more equitable food system, including ecological food provision and strengthening local food webs. Organised in the run up to World Food Day and the FAO Committee on World Food Security with the help of many UK Food Group members and Sustain volunteers, the event was held on 24 September 2010 in Friends House, London.
Green MP Caroline Lucas called for tighter regulation of the food trade:
“Food has become a commodity to be traded. The only thing that matters under the current system is profit. Trading in food must not be treated as simply another form of business as usual: for many people it is a matter of life and death. We must insist on the complete removal of agriculture from the remit of the World Trade Organisation.”
Speakers
| Olivier De Schutter, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food | Slides (pdf 242 kb) Audio (wma 6 mb) |
| Caroline Lucas, Member of Parliament for Brighton Pavilion, former MEP | Slides (pdf 57 kb) Audio (wma 2.6 mb) |
| Djibo Bagna, President of ROPPA, West African network of peasant and family farmers (by video link) | Audio (wha 1.1 mb) |
| Willem Olthof, Policy Adviser, European Commission DG Development | Slides (pdf 196 kb) Audio (wma 2.5 mb) |
| Gustave Ewole, Sub regional Platform of Farmers Organisations in Central Africa (PROPAC), Cameroon | Slides (pdf 237 kb) |
| Stephen Muchiri, Chief Executive, Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF), Kenya | Slides (pdf 596 kb) |
| Joy Carey, Associate Director, f3, UK | Slides (pdf 2.4 mb) |
| Geza Varga, GAIA Foundation, Hungary | Slides (pdf 2.6 mb) |
Related Resources
| John Vidal | UN warned of major new food crisis at emergency meeting in Rome (The Guardian, 24 September 2010) | article |
| UK Food Group | “Securing Future Food: towards ecological food provision” | briefing |
| UK Food Group | Securing Future Food Conference flyer | flyer |
| Andy Jones, Michel Pimbert and Janice Jiggins, IIED | Values, Systems and Sustainability | executive summary |
| Michel Pimbert, IIED | Making agricultural research work for small farmers and agroecological approaches in West Africa | paper |
“The world’s food futures are in the balance. Not only in regions such as sub- Saharan Africa where hunger is endemic in many countries, but in all regions, North and South, the sustainability of food supplies is threatened. The livelihoods of the small-scale food providers who produce, harvest and collect most of the food we eat, are being eliminated. And the productive, biodiverse environment and its natural wealth, which are used for food provision, are becoming increasingly degraded.” Securing Future Food: towards ecological food provision (UKFG, 2010)