14th June 2012, 4-5pm
Manning Clark Theatre 6, Union Court, ANU
Speakers:
Professor Stewart Lockie
Dr. Juliet Pietsch
Food security in the developed world is generally conceptualized and measured in terms of peoples’ financial ability to afford adequate and nutritious food. This seminar will present data collected through ANU Poll in mid-2011. It suggests that the most widely cited estimates of food insecurity in Australia are likely to underestimate the magnitude of the problem, finding that 13-16% of adult Australians experience some food insecurity and 4-8% can be considered severely food insecure.
Low levels of education, responsibility for children and low incomes are all negatively associated with household food security. Yet issues of social equity and inclusion attract little attention in public debates over food security in Australia. Growing interest in food security as a matter of political and policy concern over recent years would appear to have more to do with the combined effects of recent extreme weather events, accelerating foreign acquisitions of agricultural land and uncertainty over the magnitude and timing of future climate change impacts. This seminar will assess both the existing data on household-level food insecurity and future challenges to food security at the national level in more detail.
Speaker Bio
Stewart Lockie is Professor and Head of the School of Sociology at the Australian National University. His research addresses numerous aspects of sustainability in relation to food production and consumption, natural resource management policy and sustainable supply chain governance. Recent publications include the coedited volumes Risk and Social Theory in Environmental Management (2012, CSIRO Publishing) and Agriculture, Biodiversity and Markets: Livelihoods and Agroecology in Comparative Perspective (2010, Earthscan).
Dr Juliet Pietsch is a senior lecturer in the School of Politics and International Relations. She has a particular interest in comparative immigration politics and public opinion. In addition to the ANU Poll, Juliet is currently involved as a chief investigator on the 2010 Australian Election Study and the World Values Survey.
Date and Time:
14 June 2012 – 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Location
Union Court, ANU
ACT, Australia
Agri-Food Research Network 