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Hosted at ECCI

Farm to fork: growing a Scottish food system that doesn't cost the planet

This free evening event will include talks from University of Edinburgh professor and author Dave Reay and Nourish Scotland's Pete Ritchie.

Cutting emissions from food and farming is one of the biggest challenges facing Scotland as it prepares to achieve net zero emissions by 2045. There are no silver bullets.

Food is big business in Scotland – with ambitious plans to grow.

And it’s an intensely emotional subject, tied to our deepest instincts and deeply interwoven with culture and identity. Scottish farmers have been feeding us and looking after our countryside for centuries.

The Committee on Climate Change says the UK as a whole needs to eat 20 per cent less beef, lamb and dairy to hit net zero emissions by 2050. And globally, around a third of our food is wasted in production, storage, transportation and consumption.

But it’s not just about what we eat. Agriculture’s effect on our land accounts for a large proportion of emissions – and offers huge potential to lock carbon up in soil and forests.

This event will hear from three leading experts in the field about the innovations – from new technologies to community projects and dietary changes – that could help us to feed ourselves without costing the planet.

It will also feature quick-fire pitches from start-ups with innovative products to help make our food system lower carbon, from a kitchen waste digester to a robotic grain monitor.

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