Business forum
Ethical questions around climate change, obesity and new technologies are becoming core concerns for food businesses. We have launched a new Business Forum to help senior executives gain expert insights into the big issues of the day.
The business forum meets six times a year for in-depth discussion over an early dinner at a celebrated London restaurant. The outstanding speakers who have agreed to lead discussions include:
- Sir Donald Curry, senior government advisor on food and farming.
- Will Hutton, Chief Executive of The Work Foundation.
- Rosie Boycott, former editor of the Independent and author of Our farm.
- Stephen Joseph OBE, Executive Director of Transport 2000.
- Shaun Spiers, Chief Executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England.
- Professor Richard Jones, author of Soft Machines: Nanotechnology for Life.
Membership is by invitation and places are limited. Members pay a subscription fee that covers the cost of organising meetings. The terms and conditions of membership have been designed to enable the Food Ethics Council to engage business executives in ethical deliberation while preserving the Council's independence.
News about forum meetings is posted below. For further information about this initiative, please contact Tom MacMillan (Executive Director).
Food packaging: beyond reduction
About half of the over 10 million tonnes of packaging that ended up as waste in the UK in 2006 came from food and drink. But is less always better?
12 June 2009Health claims and functional foods
How will EU regulation shape our choices? A new report from our Business Forum.
9 April 2009Ethical consumption: solution or problem?
Is ethical consumption really part of the solution to environmental and social problems or is the challenge to break the habit of defining ourselves and our culture by what we consume?
16 February 2009Protecting workers: challenges in UK food and farming
The November meeting of the Food Ethics Council’s Business Forum discussed what factors drive worker exploitation in agriculture, horticulture and primary processing.
12 December 2008Innovation in agriculture: learning from IAASTD
We need innovation in agriculture, in the UK and internationally. But how should we innovate and who decides? The September meeting of our Business Forum debated this with Professor Bob Watson, Defra's Chief Scientific Advisor.
11 October 2008Food policy: inconvenient truths
On 7th July, the UK government launched ‘Food Matters: Towards a Strategy for the 21st Century’. The July meeting of the Food Ethics Council’s Business Forum discussed the report, focusing on its toughest messages for the food sector and for government.
July 31 2008Food security - what do you mean?
A surge in commodity prices has pushed 'food security' up the agenda in policy, business and public debate. Yet the term is used to promote everything from self-sufficiency to social justice. The May meeting of our Business Forum discussed what it means and what factors affect it.
June 11 2008Where next for ethical labelling?
Labelling and accreditation systems such as Fairtrade have played a central part in raising the profile of ethical issues in food and farming. Yet debate rages over their future role. Moves towards carbon footprinting and labels, and interest in treating water the same way, have made this a particularly urgent issue.
April 2 2008Water scarcity - a threat as big as climate change?
Water scarcity will be one of the sharpest environmental, social and economic challenges of coming decades, and the food sector will feel this keenly. A report of our Business Forum meeting on water scarcity is now available and we can also announce contributors to our Spring ’08 magazine, which will explore the issue in depth.
February 6 2008Meat consumption: trends and environmental implications
The November meeting of the Food Ethics Council’s Business Forum discussed what environmental concerns around meat-eating mean for the food sector. A report of the meeting is available here.
December 18 2007
Work in food or farming? Join our Business Forum.
Think critically. Keep informed. Read our magazine.
Print this page