Health was the central theme of LEAF’s conference ‘Setting the Agenda: Healthy Food and Farming Fit for the Future’, which took place in London earlier this week.
The conference explored how technology, science, innovation and strong public engagement will be critical to addressing some of the biggest issues facing food and farming systems such as climate change, population growth and increasing public health issues.
Speakers from across the food, farming and research sectors set out their vision of how to balance the competing pressures and demands on the global food system.
Dame Professor Anne Glover DBE, vice principal for external affairs and dean for Europe at University of Aberdeen, set out her solutions for ensuring policies and legislation for food and farming are firmly based on evidence. “The world’s population should expect access to sufficient healthy food produced without detriment to our environment. To meet this demand we need to cultivate open minds, imagination and innovation,” she said.
Judith Batchelar OBE, director of Sainsbury's brand, highlighted how the supermarket is working with farmers and supporting customers to bring about change.
“Deciding how to balance the competing pressures and demands on the global food system is a major task facing policy makers. We strongly believe that setting the agenda for meeting the needs of the future will hinge on innovation, cross industry collaboration, scientific advancements and strengthening public engagement," said LEAF’s CEO Caroline Drummond MBE.
"Ahead of LEAF’s 25th Anniversary in 2016, we will be looking to strengthen our partnerships across the food and farming sector to help deliver pragmatic and sustainable solutions that are resilient to future uncertainties.”
2015 ESM - European Supermarket Magazine - your source for retail news. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
