Thought-provoking speakers examine ‘The Future of Food’ at Cultivating Trust 2021
November 2, 2021
Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan
Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan’s annual conference brings people together from across the agricultural spectrum, as well as dietitians, food companies, researchers and government. This year’s theme is the The Future of Food.
This year’s speaker lineup:
IAN AFFLECK
CropLife Canada
The Un-Scary Truth About GMOs and Gene Editing
Most everything you see on the grocery store shelves is a marvel of human innovation. The bananas of today look nothing like the inedible bananas that nature first created – thankfully! From the early days of agriculture through to modern day where genetic engineering and gene editing are helping create crops that are more resilient to climate change, more efficient and healthier, we have been working with nature to create better food. How can we talk with consumers about how these technologies are helping improve food production – and how we know they are safe?
ALISON VAN EENENNAAM
University of California, Davis
Genome Editing Opportunities in Livestock
The gene-editing technique CRISPR earned the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry. This tool offers an opportunity for geneticists to precisely introduce useful genetic alterations into animal breeding programs. Will breeders be able to use this technology, or will it become politicized as happened with genetic engineering?
MATT RIDLEY
Northumberland, UK
What Innovation Needs to Thrive
Innovation is the main event of the modern age, the reason we experience both dramatic improvements in our living standards and unsettling changes in our society. Yet innovation
remains a mysterious process, poorly understood by policy makers and businessmen. Matt Ridley argues that we need to change the way we think about innovation. It’s not orderly or top-down or according to plan. It is incremental, fortuitous and a direct result of the human habit of exchange. So what do we need to do to position ourselves for the future?
Additional presentations at this year’s conference include the annual Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan Champion Award and The Year in Review, as well as real-time discussion sessions with each of our speakers.
This year’s conference will be available both online at farmfoodcaresk.org and in-person at the Saskatoon Inn & Conference Centre.