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Rewilding and its implications for agriculture
Explainer
Where does rewilding sit in the future of food and agriculture? Rewilding is a contested term, described by some as laying a foundation for global biodiversity restoration and by others as a threat to human and non-human life in the countryside. This explainer explores how and why people disagree about rewilding, compares its various definitions, and considers how the rewilding debate ties in with different visions for the future of food. https://www.doi.org/10.56661/2aa26681
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Use, Misuse and Abuse - a vet reflects on animal exploitation
Essay
As I went through the process of extricating myself from an abusive relationship, back when I worked as a meat-vet, I started recognising my life was saturated in violence. That experience changed my perspective on not just my personal life, but the meat industry, the veterinary profession (my profession!), and our society at large. It forced me to rethink and re-evaluate some of my core-beliefs and values, and led me to make some fairly substantial changes in how I move through life.    Content note: this piece mentions domestic violence, genocide, suicide and animal slaughter.   About the author: TABLE intern Rebecca Sanders graduated as a veterinarian in 2011. After six years as a meat industry veterinarian in New Zealand, her growing concerns about the ethical and environmental implications of the meat industry prompted a radical change in trajectory and transition towards sustainable agricultural research.
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Investment, Power and Protein in sub-Saharan Africa
Publication
This report examines financial investment in protein production in sub-Saharan Africa. It argues that in order to understand the changing place of protein in sub-Saharan African diets and food systems, it is important to investigate what motivates different financial actors to invest in new food products, markets and value chains – or to withhold investment from them. To this end, it examines what role investors’ expectations about the future of protein in sub-Saharan Africa play in mobilising investment in some places, protein sources and value chains – and in deterring investment in others. It thus examines what role the power to produce authoritative visions for the future of food, and to convince investors to act upon them, might play in transforming the organisation of protein production, provisioning and consumption within the region. https://www.doi.org/10.56661/d8817170 Suggested citation: Brice, J., (2022) Investment, Power and Protein in sub-Saharan Africa. TABLE Reports. TABLE, University of Oxford, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Wageningen University and Research. doi.org/10.56661/d8817170
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Notes from the field - livestock animals in rural Romania
Essay
After visiting Romania, George Cusworth reflects on the challenges facing Romania's subsistence peasant farmers, whose traditional agricultural practices support rich, biodiverse landscapes but who are increasingly under threat from financial pressures and external interests. All photographs curtesy of Alexander Turner. About the author: Dr George Cusworth is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford. He works on the Livestock, Environment and People (LEAP) project, funded by the Wellcome Trust. He wrote this blog after visiting Romania in May 2022.
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