Future of Food seminar: Professor Michael Winter

Food security and nature recovery: Why land occupancy matters

Professor Michael Winter, University of Exeter

Date: Thursday 3 December, 16:00, Oxford Martin School, seminar room 1 or online

Abstract: In order to achieve both food security and nature recovery in England, the role of land managers is important. Much of policy is designed to incentivise land managers, and academic researchers have devoted considerable efforts to understanding the factors that influence land managers in their decision making. Land tenure, when it is mentioned, is rarely analysed in great detail. This presentation will give a brief history of agricultural tenure and property rights and explain the complexity of contemporary land occupancy arrangements. It will look at the land management requirements for securing both food security and nature recovery, and demonstrate how these are not best served by current patterns of occupancy. The seminar concludes with some suggestions as to how improvements might be achieved but with a warning as to the likely barriers to change.

About Michael: Michael Winter OBE is Glanely Professor of Agricultural Change at the Unviersity of Exeter. He is a social scientist with particular interests in applying interdisciplinary approaches to policy-relevant research and direct engagement in the policy process. His current research focuses on i.) the historical and contemporary geography and sociology of west country agriculture, and ii.) the contribution social science can make to nature recovery.