Food security and sustainability

Sharp oil price rises have led an oil-dependent food industry to examine possible threats which have started a policy debate on food security that will not go away. Attention is focused on technical innovations such as GM, but societal issues such as restructuring food markets, rapid consumer behaviour change, reshaping cultural tastes and altering price signals should not be ignored. These require state intervention in markets and less consumer choice.

The lecture proposed the need for open and democratic debate about food futures and warned against technical triumphalism, urging a more balanced integration of societal and supply chain change.