What will be eating in future? Will it be lab-grown burgers, conservation-grazed beef, intensive chicken or less of all these? Most plausible pathways to tackling climate change entail us eating less meat. But is all meat equal – pork or lamb, British or imported, indoor, free range or organic? How do they compare when it comes to climate change, biodiversity and animal welfare? What is the impact of meat alternatives and are they affordable? 
 
These are some of the issues Tom MacMillan will explore in this discussion on the future of meat, drawing on the National Food Strategy and current research into the implications of cultured meat for farmers.

Our speakers

Tom is policy advisor to the Food, Farming & Countryside Commission, and was part of the team who produced the National Food Strategy, led by Henry Dimbleby.

Tom joined the RAU from the Soil Association, where he was Director of Innovation. There, he founded the Innovative Farmers network, which supports practical ‘field labs’ by farmers, and led an overhaul of organic standards.

From 2003-2011 he was Executive Director of the Food Ethics Council, which received the BBC Food & Farming Derek Cooper Award for its Food & Fairness Inquiry. He has served on various advisory groups and boards, including for the Cabinet Office’s Food Matters report, ScienceWise, the BBSRC, Sustain and the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership.

He has a PhD in geography from the University of Manchester, where he investigated the use and abuse of science in food regulation.