Our Future Food Director’s first thoughts

This post is written by Andrew Salter. It has been a very strange start to the autumn term for me.  For over 30 years, this time of year has been associated with preparing for teaching in the forthcoming semester.  Instead, while I watch my colleagues going through this process, I am trying to get to …

Open letter from Prof David E Salt, Director of the Future Food Beacon of Excellence

Following on from the recent announcement by Zoe Wilson PVC Science (5th April, 2022) that I will be stepping down as the Director of the Future Food Beacon on the 31st July 2022, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your support and hard work. Your willingness to contribute to …

Global trading: the good, the bad and the essential

This post is written by Lucy McCarthy (QUB), Anne Touboulic (University of Nottingham), and Lee Matthews (University of Nottingham). In our last post, we began our journey considering food supply chains in times of pandemic and we touched upon their history. Here, we further consider some of the flaws in our globalised food systems and …

Coronavirus and the food system: a reading list

Gardening and growing Growing and gardening while in isolation, by Mark Diacono (Facebook/Telegraph) Land available for allotment use has declined 65% since the 1960s (Institute for Sustainable Food, Sheffield)   Food supply chains The UK’s food supply and a call for rational rationing, by Prof Tim Lang (The Conversation) Interview with Tim Lang, by Jay …

Plants for future food security: the case of Bambara groundnut

Future Food Beacon researchers in Malaysia and UK are working with partners in Africa and Asia to help secure the future of our food supply. They are doing this by exploring the wider use of crop diversity to fill food production and nutrient gaps, making a diverse range of food crops available and accessible to …