Soil Association annual conference 2012
Facing the future: Innovation in food and farming
Royal Horticultural Halls, London
02 March 2012
The Soil Association’s annual conference 2012 will celebrate innovation in food and farming today. We will explore this through the two major themes of our organisation’s strategy: Facing the Future, which explores the exciting scientific and technical progress being made in organic, sustainable and low-input agriculture systems; and Good Food for All, which contributes to the important debate about food, public health and social justice.
The future of our food is in flux. According to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture (UNFAO) special Rapporteur, Olivier de Schutter, ‘keeping blindly on the track of industrial agriculture is clearly unsustainable.’ If this is the case, then we need to galvanize the finest thinkers, technologists, scientists, farmers, entrepreneurs and teachers to ensure organic agriculture promotes the highest degree of sustainability and to develop new and sustainable ways of feeding a growing world population now and in the future.
In addition, the growing challenge of diet-related ill-health, in the UK and internationally, means that we need to explore the relationship between food production and its consumption and sustainability, with an eye on ensuring food justice throughout the world. With a global population that has approximately 1 billion people malnourished and 1 billion obese, there is a powerful case for bringing public health and nutritional expertise to the farming and food production table, to innovate joined-up solutions for our food future.
The Soil Association annual conference will be an exploration of the work of men and women who are leading transformational, innovative change in food, farming, public health and nutrition - to challenge, debate and share ideas for what a sustainable food future might look like.
For alternative ways of booking or for any general conference queries, please contact Laura Andrews, Events Co-ordinator, on 0117 987 4586 or landrews@soilassociation.org.
Sponsors
The Soil Association 2012 conference is kindly supported by:
Feature sponsors
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The Food for Life Partnership is a network of 4,250 schools and communities across England committed to transforming food culture. Together we are revolutionising school meals, reconnecting children and young people with where their food comes from, and inspiring families to grow and cook food.
The programme is a coalition of charities - the Soil Association, the Focus on Food Campaign, the Health Education Trust and Garden Organic, supported by a BIG Lottery grant of £16.9 million over five years.
www.foodforlife.org.uk |
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Ocado. Proud to do things differently.
Ocado is a leading online supermarket with a difference. Rather than delivering from a string of energy-guzzling stores, orders are picked and packed from a sophisticated Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) in Hatfield.
This unique model allows for highly efficient energy use, while their low-emission delivery vans can each keep up to 40 cars off the road a day. They’re an industry leader when it comes to reducing food waste (at 0.6% of total sales, their waste food levels are a tenth of the industry average), and even recycle their own carrier bags.
It’s green credentials such as these that have earned Ocado several gongs from the presitigious Grocer Gold Awards over the years.
So what do they stock? Well, over 21,000 lines and growing, including Waitrose goods and the Ocado range (‘it’s good quality, sensibly-priced and, of course, responsibly sourced’). Oh, and one of the largest online selections of organic groceries in UK.
To find out more about what makes them so green, alongside their technological innovations and of course, their groceries, head to www.ocado.com/theocadoway |
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Southern Solar has been helping people and communities in the UK harness the power of the sun since 2002. We install both solar thermal and solar electric systems and we are passionate about helping people, businesses and communities to live sustainable low carbon lives.
As the Soil Association’s appointed solar partner, Southern Solar can offer advice and discounts to members, farms and CSA groups, and will be making regular donations to the charity.
With offices in Bristol, Hereford, London, Oxford, Sussex, South Wales and Winchester we are perfectly positioned to work closely with you on large and small scale projects across the UK.
Southern Solar is fully MCS accredited meaning the systems we install are eligible for the Feed-in Tariff and the Renewable Heat Incentive.
If you are a Soil Association member and/or part of a CSA group please get in touch quoting ref: SA001 for further information and advice. We look forward to helping.
Contact details: Tel 0845 456 9474 or via our website www.southernsolar.co.uk |
Exhibitor sponsors
Supporter sponsors
