Breaking out of business-as-usual: Alternative paths for UK agri-food

‘Business-as-usual’ is dead. The world order – economically, politically, environmentally and socially – is being turned on its head and redrawn. Why then, when thinking about transforming our food system, do we tend to assume the world will just trundle on as it has before, leaving the UK free to carefully redesign its domestic production, supply chains and landscapes – rather than be forced to react to the world around it, at least in part?

Prof Neil Ward, co-lead of AFN Network+ and professor of rural and regional development at the University of East Anglia, will paint a picture of four possible futures developed by AFN, that suggest how radically different the world might be in 2050. Based on these, he’ll go deeper into how the UK agri-food system might respond, how net zero could be aspired to under each, and what research gaps emerge.

This webinar is run by AFN Network+ as part of CountrysideCOP3, a programme of events running before COP28 to explore how food and farming can tackle climate change.

Neil will cover:

• why we need to break out of ‘business-as-usual’ mindset & how scenarios help
• the global factors driving change towards an increasingly uncertain future
• four future, four paths – scenarios of different 2050 worlds & the UK food system
• shared features and contradictions across these divergent futures
• emerging research gaps on the agri-food path towards net zero

This webinar will be chaired by Professor Tom MacMillan, Elizabeth Creak Chair in Rural Policy and Strategy, at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester.