Exeter Food 2021-2022 Seminar Series

Dr Nadira Faber; Department of Psychology, also affiliated with the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Oxford
Meat consumption and the moral value of animals
Nadira will illustrate an empirical moral-psychological approach to meat consumption. In her lab, they have found that the likelihood of people consuming meat goes along with how they assign moral value to non-human animals. Some people think more categorically about animals (e.g. food versus pet) than others, and they investigate predictors for such categorisation.

Professor Jane Whittle, Professor of Economic and Social History, History Department
From Field to Plate in Medieval and Early Modern England: Working with Food
Jane began her career as a historian of economic development in rural England, and has since worked on consumption and domestic material culture, and the history of work, particularly women’s work. The history of food lies at the intersection of all her interests. Jane is a former chair of the British Agricultural History Society, and currently holds a European Research Council Advanced grant to study ‘Forms of Labour: Gender, Freedom and the Experience of Work in the Preindustrial Economy’. In this talk Jane would like to say a little about the types of evidence and methodologies she works with, and how the themes she explores might intersect with present-day concerns around sustainable food production; food preparation, cooking and waste; and the idea of self-sufficiency.

Catherine Broomfield, PhD research candidate at Centre for Rural Policy Research
Co-producing a social license to farm: navigating the road to sustainable food production in a UK grassland farming region
The global discourse which frames red meat production as one of the most problematic and impactful challenges facing society, risks all parts of beef and sheep farming - including traditional grass-based farming systems as practiced in grassland regions of the UK, such as the south-west of England - losing public support or "social licence to farm". Public engagement is understood to be a critical component of securing a resilient social licence to operate. This presentation will briefly consider how farming approaches engagement with non-farming publics, and draw on lessons learnt from the scientific community's turn to a "science and society" approach, to consider how the beef and sheep sector at farm and industry levels can develop its public engagement practice towards co-producing a resilient social licence to farm.

Dr Alice Moseley, Department of Politics
How can Ruby Country beef farming best transition to net-zero GHG emissions by (or before) 2050? The Net-Zero Beef Farming Forum Project
In May 2021, social scientists from the University of Exeter (Politics, Business School, GSI, CRPR) and Rothamsted Research alongside community partners, conducted the Ruby Country Farming Forum. This project, funded by the UKRI’s ‘Enhancing place-based partnerships in public engagement’ scheme, engaged the farming community in discussions about transitions towards net zero farming. The aims were to learn more about how the beef farming sector specifically can make this transition, including findings from research, innovative practices already underway, areas of support needed, and potential areas for collaboration within the farming community of the Ruby Country and between farmers and researchers.  The forum was run as a series of six online co-produced workshops over 7 weeks with researchers and 20 forum members, made up of farmers and others from the farming sector in the predominantly livestock-based ‘Ruby Country’ area of Devon. Research evidence was presented and discussed, with debate and discussion amongst forum members about the research and implications for practice.  A legacy website and online report from the project will distil key findings for the wider farming community. This presentation will outline key findings from this collaborative project.
Academic project members: Dr Steven Guilbert (CRPR/ Devon County Council), Dr Sarah Hartley (Business School), Professor Matt Lobley (CRPR), Dr Alice Moseley, Department of Politics, Dr Andy Neal (Rothamsted Research), Dr Tom Powell (GSI), Mel Wright (Rothamsted Research).
Project Partners: Devon Communities Together, West Devon Business Information Point, Ruby Country Partnership