// Latest Posts

Food sovereignty in the UK

Food security has become the dominant framing of agri-food policy and research in the UK. However, it is not the only framing. In this post we take a look at one of the alternatives, food sovereignty. We look for food sovereignty in policy, in research, and in the media. We also explore the emerging food …

Unpacking Food Waste

In February, the United Nations treated 500 delegates at its Environment Programme event in Kenya to a five-course meal. The surprising thing about this is that all the food served would have been rejected by European supermarkets despite being perfectly fit to eat. Waste food is an important issue for people interested in food provisioning. Waste …

More from less

Dr John Strak, Honorary Professor in Food Economics at The University of Nottingham, on how we can get more food with less environmental impact.  I was in Denmark a couple of weeks ago, as the guest of the Danish Agriculture and Food Council (DAFC), attending a gathering of over 2,000 Danish pig farmers and their …

Meat scares and the gains for food security

Dr John Strak, Honorary Professor in Food Economics at The University of Nottingham, discusses how the horsemeat scandal has dented trust in the food industry and what this means for food security. Are we eating too much processed meat? Meat consumption is dominating the news agenda these days and the latest headlines concern the risk …

A Chinese lesson in how to avoid horse trading

Dr John Strak, Honorary Professor in Food Economics at The University of Nottingham, says we should look to China for a better way of tracing our food — and to avoid a repeat of the ‘horsemeat scandal’.  The horsemeat scandal in the UK food industry chain isn’t the first example of contamination in the UK’s …

Food waste is not an absolute concept

Dr John Strak, Honorary Professor in Food Economics at The University of Nottingham, wades in on recent reports regarding food wastage in the UK and the claim that we throw away half of our food.  The Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IME) has hit the headlines this week with its report on waste in the global food …

The great food debate

Dr John Strak, Honorary Professor in Food Economics at The University of Nottingham, on his recent encounter with the Women’s Institute as it launches its report on global food security. Food for thought A day out in York in cold, snowy December probably isn’t that appealing but I was tempted when I heard that the …

No silver bullet for food security

Dr John Strak, Honorary Professor in Food Economics at The University of Nottingham, on how good communication contributes to food security. Recently I had three days in London listening to an array of speakers from far and wide about the future of farming and where the best investment prospects are in the world for agriculture. …

Chinese pork made safer with an iPhone

Dr John Strak, Honorary Professor in Food Economics at The University of Nottingham, talks food safety and iPhones… Taking food safety to another level Food safety isn’t an issue that suggests compromise but in certain aspects it can be difficult to deliver. In the UK we found this when Mad Cow disease (BSE) was discovered …

Farming may not always be just as we know it….

Dr John Strak, Honorary Professor in Food Economics at The University of Nottingham, talks vertical farming… A meeting on our Jubilee Campus last week gave me the chance to catch up on some new developments in science and, with about 100 others, to share ideas on what vertical farming can contribute to global food security. …