The Future of Agriculture

Synthesis of an online debate

Publication date: 29 July 2013
Author: Maya Manzi, independent consultant; Gine Zwart, Policy Advisor Sustainable Livelihoods, Oxfam Novib

The fear that global demand for food will outstrip supply has led to significant debate.

Oxfam hosted an online discussion in December 2012 to get beyond the question of securing steady supplies of raw materials for food and beverage companies and to rise above polarized discourses on large-scale industrialized vs. smallholder farms.

The two-week debate on the future of agriculture formed part of Oxfam’s efforts to develop a creative and positive vision of global food production that can ensure that everyone has enough to eat always.

This paper offers a synthesis of the online debate, the 23 essays by food and development experts from 16 countries that formed the basis of the discussion, and Oxfam’s brief concluding remarks.

 

 

Related links 

Check out the online discussion blog which fed into this paper: Future of Agriculture

You may also like the blog discussion Food and Gender