We need radical and transformational change in our food system. However, the scale of the change can sometimes feel overwhelming and paralysing – but we also tend to forget that we've done it before, including in living memory, during and after WW2.
The challenges may be different this time, but just as urgent to solve; building resilience in an increasingly uncertain and warming world, preventing further climate disaster by reducing emissions fast, tackling the public health emergency caused by poor diet, regenerating our land and nature, and rebooting our economy.
While it might seem daunting, a sense of agency and ambition can be derived from studying past transitions: In this webinar, Prof Neil Ward will explore the characteristics of the last agri-food revolution and ask what can be learnt and applied to our current juncture.
About Neil
As well as a co-lead of the AFN Network+, Neil Ward is a professor at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia (UEA), where he was deputy vice chancellor and PVC-Academic (2013-21). He has held chairs at the University of Leeds and Newcastle University, where he was director of the Centre for Rural Economy from 2004 to 2008.
He has also worked for periods on secondment to the Cabinet Office and as an advisor to the Economic and Social Research Council. He is author of Net Zero, Food and Farming: Climate Change and the UK Agri-Food System (Routledge 2023).
About this webinar series
This webinar is part of a monthly series run by AFN Network+ which explores net zero in the UK agri-food system with leading movers and shakers. Expect deep and varied insight from across the sector, including farmers, scientists, policy analysts, community leaders, retailers, politicians, businesses and health professionals.
The series is organised by Jez Fredenburgh, our Knowledge Exchange Fellow, with oversight from Prof Neil Ward, AFN Co-lead. Jez and Neil are based in the School of Environmental Sciences, and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, at the University of East Anglia.
