Natural Products Global’s (NPG) upcoming webinar Sense, Science and Sustainability is asking a hot question: can genome editing and agroecology co-exist in the sustainable food and farming mix?
The Government is currently debating an amendment to the Agriculture Bill that would change the Environmental Protection Act and deregulate gene edited organisms in England, and possibly the rest of the UK.
For the last 18 months NPG, in collaboration with A Bigger Conversation, has been on the leading edge of this discussion, with panel sessions at Natural & Organic Products Europe and the Nordic Organic Food Fair that have brought a wider range of businesses and consumers into the debate about agricultural technology, the future of sustainable food and farming and the impact that a change in regulation might have on natural and organic businesses.
The panel for this webinar is a ‘who’s who’ of farming, animal welfare, biotechnology, academia and media:
- Philip Lymbery, global CEO, Compassion in World Farming
- Wendy Harwood, senior scientist, Genes in the Environment, John Innes Centre
- Guy Singh-Watson, farmer, founder of Riverford
- Sheila Dillon, host of BBC Radio 4 Food Programme
- Jack Heinemann, professor of genetics and molecular biology, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
NPG is expecting some lively discussion and controversial views from them all.
But this is not a discussion that can just be left to the experts. The organizers need input, questions and ideas from everyone, and so everyone attending has the opportunity to submit questions and comments before the webinar as well as during it. For example:
- What kind of food system do you want?
- How do you think we are going to get there?
- What do your customers expect?
- How do you define sustainability?
- Are the issues different depending on whether you are a brand manager or a farmer?
- Are we making too big a deal about how plants and animals are bred; does it even matter?
- Could you grow or sell an organic product produced using genetic engineering?
- In a world of increasingly difficult choices, which values and aspirations for our food system are tradeable – and which ones aren’t?
By submitting your thoughts and questions before the webinar you have an opportunity to help inform and shape the debate.
Please join the discussion on 22 July at 10.30am BST and be a part of a conversation that everyone who grows, sells or eats food should be having.
