School of Law academics provide evidence to EFRA Committee enquiry into COVID-19 and food supply
COVID-19 and Food Supply: Food Security and the Role of Law.
School of Law academics Dr Carrie Bradshaw and Professor Michael Cardwell have provided written evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee’s inquiry into Covid-19 and food supply.
Their evidence highlights how demands on the UK’s food supply in the wake of Covid-19 raise imperatives around food security. Focusing on the role of law, the submission suggests opportunities within the landmark Agriculture Bill to develop a regulatory framework better calculated to deliver food security, addressing both short-term shocks to supply and long-term structural issues. In particular, Dr Bradshaw and Professor Cardwell offer recommendations for the design of a more holistic approach, encompassing all facets of food security from farm-to-fork and ‘beyond’, including through food waste reduction.
Among the sources cited are Dr Bradshaw’s recent article, ‘England’s fresh approach to food waste: problem frames in the Resources and Waste Strategy’ (2020), which evaluates new policy and proposed legislation to tackle food waste; and the article which Professor Cardwell co-authored with Professor Fiona Smith (also of the School of Law), ‘Charting a new course for the United Kingdom agri-food sector—Health and Harmony: The Future for Food, Farming and the Environment in a Green Brexit’ (2018), which emphasises the importance of integrating matters of health and nutrition into agri-food policy.
