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Monday 6 October 2008
to Tuesday 7 October 2008

Location

Chartered Insurance Institute, London

Conference Overview

Corporate decision makers and government policymakers are facing a future shaped by uncertainties of resource supply and distribution. Basic questions that had once receded from everyday life are reappearing as crucial issues. Faced with riots over soaring food prices, governments worldwide are struggling to ensure security of supply for their populations. Short-term solutions may well be counterproductive in the long term and the crisis in the supply of food looks set to continue for months, if not years.

Global Food Supply Governance - What is the Problem and Where are the Solutions?

• Do the existing international institutions have the capacity to provide leadership in stemming the crisis in food supply?
• What steps need to be taken to increase food supply? And by whom?
• What will be the likely restructuring of food industries?
• How will consumer behaviour towards food choices and attitudes to food production change in the face of high prices and shortages?

This conference will tackle both the short term and long term issues surrounding global food security. Among the key lines of debate will be the likely restructuring of the food industry, in the UK and globally, and the role of science and technology. The need for changes in government and EU policy, and their effects, will also be considered. The conference will assist corporate decision makers and government policymakers in understanding the nature of the changes in prospect and the response options available.

The conference forms part of a Chatham House research project UK Food Supply in the 21st Century: The New Dynamic, whose findings will be published in late 2008.

Speaker Highlights

• Professor John Beddington CMG FRS
  Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the Government Office of
  Science
  Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, UK
  
  
• The Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP
  Secretary of State
  Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK
  
  
• Dr Joachim von Braun
  Director General
  International Food Policy Research Institute
  
  
• Sir Donald Curry KB CBE FRAgS
  Chairman, Sustainable Farming and Food Implementation Group
  Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, UK
  
  
• Joseph Glauber
  Chief Economist
  US Department of Agriculture
  
  
• Peter Kendall
  President
  National Farmers' Union, UK
  
  
• Dr David Lawrence
  Head, Research and Development
  Syngenta International AG
  
  
• Ambassador Ali Mchumo
  Managing Director
  Common Fund for Commodities of the United Nations
  
  
• Jeremy Webb
  Editor in Chief
  New Scientist