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Project Events

Economic modelling workshops

The project held a series of workshops to bring together global modellers of crops, climate, agricultural trade and markets, supported by Defra and the USDA. These workshops aimed to:

  • create an international network of modellers, well-informed of the complexity of different models and modelling traditions;
  • investigate the effects of climate variability on crops and markets;
  • systematically compare, contrast and evaluate the assumptions, evidence and models underpinning different exercises; and
  • draw conclusions on evidence gaps and the need for future development.

Emerging from these workshops are a number of innovative proposals, including creating an infrastructure to promote shared data sets on agriculture and land use data, and to ensure the continuation of a forum for agricultural modellers. We expect these to be key legacies of this Foresight project.

Sustainable livestock production workshop

In March 2010, the project held a workshop on Sustainable Livestock Production in collaboration with the Food Research Partnership. The workshop was chaired by Professor Maggie Gill, the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser for Rural Affairs and the Environment and drew on contributions from experts, government officials, and practitioners. The workshop focused on two key questions:

  • What is the argument and the evidence being used in the media in relation to the livestock debate?
  • How efficient can we get our livestock systems in 2050 to minimise the carbon and land footprints, and what evidence do we need to get there?

Waste Workshop

A two day Expert Forum on Reducing Food Waste was held in London in February 2010, in conjunction with the UK’s Science and Innovation Network. Over 40 international experts on Waste participated in comparing past trajectories in OECD economies with trends in BRIC/emerging economies, and the lessons to be learned for both.

Difficult to Imagine Drivers Workshop

Twenty four scientists and policy analysts from the UK, Europe and the USA, with Foresight staff and members of the Lead Expert Group attended the Difficult to Imagine drivers workshop in October 2009. Participants identified and assessed plausible but difficult to imagine drivers of dynamic changes to food production, supply, prices and reviewed their implications for future food security.

Authors Workshop

In September 2009, the Project brought together a group of international experts and contributors to our phase 1 driver reviews, to discuss emerging findings; attempt an initial synthesis; and to peer review the structure of five key challenges to be considered by the report [link to challenges text here]. The event was a great success and led directly to a well-acclaimed paper published in Science [link], which will form a key part of the phase 1 synthesis.

Developments in the Global Food Supply Chain workshop
In September 2009, the project hosted a two-day workshop to consider the future of the global food supply chain out to 2050. Leading experts from different areas and aspects of the food chain, from the National Farmers Union to Sainsburys, were invited to contribute to the project’s understanding of the global food and farming system.

Marine Workshop

The project convened an expert workshop in March 2009 to develop specifications for the aquatic production component of the project. This resulted in the commissioning of four major driver reviews on:

  • Marine fisheries
  • Freshwater fisheries
  • Aquaculture
  • Production to plate in the aquatics sector