Objectives

Going Against the Grain: Sustainable Agriculture and the Global Food Economy
LEAD International Session on Future Food Security
Imperial College London, Wye, Kent, United Kingdom
1-6 April and 15-20 April 2004

Objectives

To explore multiple dimensions of future food security challenges, from local to global, with a particular emphasis on how they are inter-related.
To study the complexity of sustainable food systems and explore the challenges to, and opportunities for, sustainable and equitable production and distribution of food resources with case studies of food production, processing, and distribution activities in the UK.
To strengthen Associates capabilities in ethical decision-making, and effective analytical and presentation skills through a final reporting process on the session theme.
To provide an opportunity to network with peers from all parts of the world in order to strengthen the links among them.
Context

The objective of the final LEAD International Session for Cohort 10 is to explore the challenges of global and local food sustainability and security. Close to 800 million people do not have enough to eat, yet the world produces more food per inhabitant than ever before. This contradiction demands an analysis of the policies and practices that disrupt the path that should exist between food production and adequate nutrition.

Food insecurity and unsustainability is the result of a range of complex factors. This session aims to provide an overview of these factors and potential solutions, identifying key areas of controversy in the food security debate while balancing North/South issues and perspectives. This session is being held in the UK because its agriculture and land use are challenged at present by factors which will come to affect all countries in the near future C a decline in rural populations and economy, changing food and trade policies, concerns about disease, safety and new technologies, and debate about the food chain and the role of business. Further, the UK and Europe occupy an important position with respect to North/South dialogue on trade in food and developmental policy. Key issues and potential case studies in the UK will be identified, paying special attention to the relationship between farming, food and the environmentan area in which LEAD is concentrating its efforts.

LEAD International International Session Official Information