Top scientists will examine the challenges of modern farming and propose sustainable solutions in order to produce safe, accessible and nutritious food.
The Food Matters Aotearoa conference and tour is coming soon! The tour will run from 9–20 February, with the conference being held in Wellington from 14–15 February. Wellington will host a long list of expert speakers, although there will be presentations in Christchurch, Hawke’s Bay and Auckland for those who can’t make it to the capital. These talks are a must see if you are interested in the future of our food and agriculture. Head to the conference and tour website to learn more.
Wendy McGuinness will be running a conference workshop at Te Papa on Sunday, 15 February from 2.30 pm. The overarching topic is: How do we ensure public policy serves the public? In just under an hour Wendy will, with the audience’s help, attempt to identify what issues matter most in terms of food production and consumption and how we might better embed these issues in public policy.
The conference organisers will be preparing a post-conference paper on the outcomes of the conference, which will include the outcomes from the workshop.
![20160906 McGuinness Institute - TacklingPovertyNZ Workshop – Far North Flyer [FINAL]](/wp-content/uploads/20160906-McGuinness-Institute-TacklingPovertyNZ-Workshop-%E2%80%93-Far-North-Flyer-FINAL-1-50x50.png)
4 comments
Grant Jacobs says:
Feb 8, 2020
I have written some thoughts on this meeting at SciBlogs, New Zealand’s largest science writing community hosted by the Science Media Centre:
http://sciblogs.co.nz/code-for-life/2020/02/06/better-discussion-about-gmos-needed-in-nz/
It is worth noting that all the keynote speakers are widely known to be anti-GM. They feature work that is regarded by the scientific community as poor. The organisers are members of GE Free NZ, an anti-GE/GM advocacy group. Further in my article, linked above.
I believe the topic deserves discussion, but featuring keynote speakers from only one end of the spectrum, as it were, is not suitable for good discussion. I’d welcome suggestions for better approaches to discuss GE/GM/GMOs for all NZers (the key element of my piece).
On this note Wendy’s talk “How do we ensure public policy serves the public?” is relevant to my own interests, but on the face of it the keynote speakers look to be serving a particular viewpoint (one GE Free NZ advocates) rather than open the topic widely as would be needed to serve the wider public.
Wendy McGuinness says:
Feb 8, 2020
Hi Grant,
Thanks for the feedback. It is great that you are looking for ways to improve the quality of the discussion as I don’t think anyone wants to revert to the them/us debate that existed at the time of the Royal Commission.
Although I can appreciate some of the concerns you raise, from my experience it is not unusual for conferences to focus on a specific issue/s that concern a particular group within society. What I particularly like about this conference is that it is open to all, its transparent in its goals/objectives and it is not expensive to attend.
From the Institute’s perspective, it is important to gain an understanding of the spectrum of views on an issue at any point of time. GM is an important issue but I am personally more interested in what is driving the choices we are making about the plants/animals we grow and the food we eat.
My interest in running the workshop is to develop, with the audience, some underlying themes that are driving our needs and wants and then look at ways these may be better embedded in public policy. An extremely ambitious task for an hour!
Would be terrific if you could attend.
Best, Wendy
Grant Jacobs says:
Feb 8, 2020
Hi Wendy,
re “Although I can appreciate…” – I think I haven’t made clear what I was intending to convey (sorry) so that you’ve gotten the wrong idea.
I fully expect meeetings to reflect the interests of the organisers – of course. And advocacy groups will, of course, chose speakers that advocate as they do.
One point was that the meeting seems to be organised by GE Free NZ (all the organisers are members), but they don’t say this on their website or advertising, etc. It was unexpected to me. I only found out by looking up each of the organisers. Just my thoughts, but that didn’t seem very transparent, especially given how the keynote speakers were introduced. (They’re not so much experts in the field, but people with views very much at one end of the spectrum. I’m being polite – others would express this much more bluntly.)
I’m unable to attend: travelling time + costs + other things to do.
While I am writing, do you know if there is a survey of public opinion of the safety of GMO food in NZ? (Don’t put any real time in on my behalf, please; just if you happen to know of the top of your head.)
Wendy McGuinness says:
Mar 2, 2020
Hi Grant,
Regarding public surveys, the Institute wrote a report on the History of GM in New Zealand in 2020, which might be of interest. See the report here: http://www.mcguinnessinstitute.org/Site/Publications/Project_Reports.aspx. If you want more up-to-date information, I suggest you contact the Sustainability Council.
Regarding the organsiers background, I note that their involvement with GEFree can be found on the website here: http://www.foodconference.co.nz/contact-us.
The conference was a huge success, Sounds Theatre was full and the discussion broad. I will be writing up the workshop notes in the next few weeks and will email you a copy.
Best, Wendy