Apr
6
April Café Scientifique with Navin Ramankutty
Posted by: jdewitt | April 6, 2016 | Leave a Comment
Dear Café Scientifiquers, our next café will happen on Tuesday April 26th, 7:30pm at Big Rock Brewery (310 W 4th Ave). Our speaker for the evening will be Dr. Navin Ramankutty, a Professor of Global Food Security and Sustainability at UBC. The title of his talk is:
A Framework for Understanding Why Food Security Discussions are Contentious
There is a contentious debate regarding the best approach to achieving food security in an environmentally sustainable and socially just manner. Some advocate for new technological systems, such as genetic modification or vertical farming, while others argue for organic agricuture or local food systems. Still others argue that agriculture does not need a revolution and that we simply need to improve current farming practices. Even the overall objectives are unclear, with some arguing that we need to double food production by 2050 while others suggest that we already have enough food on this planet to feed 10 billion. In this talk, I will use an assessment framework to explore the available evidence supporting or opposing the various claims about the most sustainable way to farm on our planet. The broad assessment offers some insights on why we argue about food security.