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EU referendum: a spotlight on food & farming

04 Apr 2016

Greater Manchester residents working in the food sector or with an interest in sustainable, healthy food and farming will have the opportunity to explore the EU debate from a new angle at an event organised by Manchester’s Kindling Trust and national charity the Food Ethics Council later this month.

Farmer sat in front of a tractor

In advance of June’s referendum, the event aims to help voters get clued up on the role of the EU in shaping and regulating our food and farming system, and the impact (positive or negative), that leaving may have on factors like worker and consumer protection, environmental standards, trade deals like TTIP, rural development and biodiversity. 

Kindling’s Helen Woodcock explained: “On the surface it might feel like the EU is irrelevant to those involved in local food. We believe that EU trade deals like TTIP are taking us in the wrong direction, but would things be any better if we left - or would they in fact get worse? This event is about getting informed to help us vote - but it can’t stop there. We need to use the referendum as a way to get people engaged - to push for changes in food and farming policy that will help create a fairer and more ecological food system for us all”.

A series of short presentations from industry experts and those working in the sustainable food sector will be followed by time for discussion and debate. Speakers include Nourish Scotland’s Pete Ritchie, agricultural economist Steve Webster, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust's Anne Selby and Associate Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University Charlie Clutterbuck.

Dan Crossley of the Food Ethics Council will be chairing the debate: “For better or worse, the EU influences pretty much every aspect of the UK’s food and farming landscape, and the referendum result will have really profound implications – but many working in the field don’t know enough about what they are. There are a lot of factors to consider in this debate, and as organisations working for a fairer, more ecological food system, we want to make sure food and farming is high up on the agenda as we go to the polls.”

Booking

 

Find out more 

  • The Kindling Trust is a social & environmental change organisation based in Manchester. Their work is largely based around food; incubating and supporting progressive initiatives that helping to transform our city’s food system, but which also demonstrate the potential for a radically different food economy.  In the next two years they plan to establish a large pioneering farm within fifty miles of Manchester. Visit their wbesite http://www.kindling.org.uk/
  • The Food Ethics Council is a charity that provides independent advice on the ethics of food and farming. Their aim is to create a food system that is fair and healthy for people, animals and the environment. http://www.foodethicscouncil.org/