Eating local: The key to food security?

Is eating local the answer to food security and climate change? Can we be self-sufficient and stop relying on imports?

Eat local is a common recommendation to reduce the carbon footprint of our diet. Food prices have been increasing forcing many families into poverty, and supermarkets have seen empty shelves for certain types of food. So the question that many are asking is, “Why can’t we just make or grow that food here and stop relying on imports?”

Should nations aim to be self-sufficient in food? What are the external factors that enable or inhibit what we can produce and access? What power do individual consumers have? And how responsible are governments for what we eat?

Our distinguished panel considered these questions and key external factors including labour, international trade, and agreements to understand what the push for nations to increase food sovereignty and become more self-sufficient means. Please find the event recording here.

Chair:

Prof Yasemin Kor, Beckwith Professor of Management Studies, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.

Speakers:

Prof Lorand Bartels, Professor of International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge

Prof Manoj Dora, Centre for Intelligent Supply Chains, Anglia Ruskin University.

Adele Jones, Executive Director, Sustainable Food Trust.

Claire White, Senior Veterinary Adviser, National Farmers Union.