Conference
Conference May 25 and 26, 2023: The Future of Food Law:
This year’s annual ‘Law for the living environment’ - conference of the WUR Law Group will centre on ‘The Future of Food Law’. The conference will be held on 25 and 26 May 2023 at Wageningen University & Research (WUR).
‘The Future of Food Law’ conference reflects on EU food law beyond the Farm to Fork Strategy. By the end of 2023, the proposal of the European Commission’s Framework for a Sustainable Food System will be published, marking the end of the Farm to Fork Strategy policy process.
The upcoming publication of the Framework provides an opportunity to consider the successes and limitations of the Farm to Fork policy process thus far, to ask how best to ‘futureproof’ the Farm to Fork Strategy, and to reflect on what is to come.
Do you have appetite for change?
This conference is an invitation to:
- Exchange ideas on how to shape the legislative Framework for a Sustainable Food System, and the future of EU food law beyond the Farm to Fork Strategy;
- Rethink the legal architecture of the EU food system, its constitutional foundation(s) and applicable legal frameworks;
- Encourage a deeper engagement with, and critical appraisal of, the sustainability paradigm, as well as the implications of food systems thinking;
- Seek novel approaches and perspectives, such as the One Health principle, and explore new methods, such as futurecasting and scenario-based analysis;
- Engage in more robust legal theoretical analysis, including justice and rights-based approaches.
The conference features the following invited speakers:
- Alberto Alemanno (HEC Paris, the Good Lobby) on future directions of food law
- Alessandra Arcuri (Erasmus University Rotterdam) on food de-commodification as sustainability
- Anastasia Alvizou (DG Health and Food Safety, European Commission) on the future legislative framework for sustainable food systems
- Emily Broad-Leib (Food Law and Policy Clinic and Centre for Health Law and Policy Innovation, Harvard Law School) on food law in academia
- Alan Matthews (Trinity College Dublin) on the Common Agricultural Policy
- Bernard O'Connor (O’Connor & Company European Lawyers)
- Tomar Pierson-Brown (University of Pittsburgh School of Law) on systems thinking for lawyers
- Michael T. Roberts (Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy UCLA School of Law) on food systems
- Hanna Schebesta (Wageningen University & Research) on the Farm to Fork Strategy and beyond
- Ellen Vos (Maastricht University) on the future of food law, the future of EFSA
- Floris de Witte (LSE Law School) on food heritage and the EU internal market
Our rich and exciting two-day conference will provide ample opportunities to hear diverse perspectives and engage in debates about each other’s research.
The conference also aspires to launch the Food Law Academics Network, aimed at connecting academics working in the field, fostering critical and cooperative exchanges, and providing an academic and independent voice in debates on food law and its future.
Call for Abstracts
The Call for Abstracts has closed. A selection of papers presented at the conference may be considered for publication as a special issue on the Future of Food Law with the European Journal of Risk Regulation.
Deadline for submission was 1 April 2023. More information can be found in the 'The Future of Food Law - Call for Abstracts'. For any questions, feel free to contact Dr. Mirta Alessandrini via food.law@wur.nl.
Travel to the conference
WUR campus can easily be reached via shuttle bus connection from the train station Ede-Wageningen. More detailed information can be found on the How to travel page.