Research by members of our Agroecology Group features in a new exhibition Future of Food at the Science Museum in London.
Prof Lynn Dicks, leader of the Group, spoke at the exhibition's opening event on Thursday 24 July and wrote the following summary:
"Future of Food tells the story of how human ingenuity has provided food for people over the last 180 years, during the time our population has been expanding exponentially. It's a story of triumph and shame. Huge leaps forward, followed by waves of realisation that we're spoiling our beautiful world.
“It is vibrant, engaging and wonderful, with something for all ages. There are peep holes in the wall to peer at soil mesofauna, the equipment used for the early days of the Haber-Bosch process, and a large growth cabinet incubating genetically modified potato tissue. At the end, I was left amazed, hopeful, and wondering what a 'solar punk vision of the future of food' really entails.
“It's incredibly exciting to see the work of Agroecology group members Iris Berger, Katie Berthon, Ailsa Harris and Annie Northfield featured as exhibits. Our case of bee specimens sits alongside Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, because we are working on the impact of pesticide use on wild bees in English farms. Iris's sound recordings from India are the background sound to a whole section of the exhibition about farming with nature.
“The exhibition is free, and open at the Science Museum until January 4th. Well worth a visit!"
Future of Food information and tickets: https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/future-of-food
Images: Speakers at the opening event (L-R Dr Julia Knights, Deputy Director, Science Museum; Prof Lynn Dicks, University of Cambridge; Prof Chris Chuck, Professor of Bioprocess Engineering at University of Bath and Technical Lead at Clean Food Group and Prof Christina Hicks, Political Ecology Group, Lancaster University.) Photo by Gabriel Popa. A display case at the exhibition featuring Silent Spring alongside bee specimens collected by the Agroecology Group. Photo by Lynn Dicks.