With the global population set to increase to 9 billion in the next forty years, the big issue is how can the world can produce enough food to feed all those people without destroying the planet. 

The East of England Co-op has set up a webchat to open up and encourage this important debate, which will happen on this web page at 5.00pm on 4 February 2013. This on-going debate follows a lecture hosted by the Society with Professor Tim Benton, the UK’s Global Food Security Champion last year.

To Tweet about this event use hashtag: #fooddebate

Join the discussion with our expert panel:

Professor Tim Benton
University of Leeds

Nicola Currie
Country Land and Business Association

Tom Green
CEO - Spearhead International Ltd

Amanda Long
Executive Officer - Marketing, Membershi...

Professor Dale Sanders ScD, FRS
John Innes Centre Director

• what do we mean by sustainability/sustainable agriculture/sustainable intensification?
• is it possible to produce everything we need to eat in the region / in the UK?
• this is a farming region and a dry one – do / should those facts affect how we farm?
• should we be thinking and acting locally or globally?
• how should we manage landscapes? On what scale?

Please register for the web discussion by completing the form on the right of this page - it starts at 5.00pm on 4 February 2013

Useful food sustainability links

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers Feeding the 9 Billion: The tragedy of waste report released January 2013

Eastern Daily Press Global food security champion Prof Tim Benton discusses East Anglia’s role in feeding the world