The global population is sustained by fragile food systems that are wreaking havoc with the environment and public health. Food systems contribute to and are significantly affected by climate change but they are also a crucial part of the solution. In this final episode of Spilling the Beans we spoke to Patrick Holden, Founding Director of the Sustainable Food Trust and Patty Fong, the Program Director for Climate and Health & Wellbeing at Global Alliance for the Future of Food about how and why we need to rethink food systems. Produced in partnership with The Sustainable Foods Conference.
Our guests:
Patrick Holden, CBE, farms 200 hectares in west Wales producing cheese from the milk of 80 Ayrshire cows. It is now the longest established organic dairy farm in Wales. He has been advising the Prince of Wales on sustainability issues since 1982, the year when he launched British Organic Farmers. He is founding director of the Sustainable Food Trust, whose mission is to work internationally to accelerate the transition to sustainable food system.
Patty Fong is Program Director for Climate and Health & Wellbeing at Global Alliance for the Future of Food, an alliance of philanthropic foundations working together and with others to transform global food systems. Her work currently focuses on advocating for an integrated
policy approach to food, climate and health at international and national levels. She was formerly founding COO and Program Director for more than a decade at the European Climate Foundation (ECF), a major philanthropic initiative established by several global foundations in 2008, with a focus on European leadership on climate and energy. From 1998 to 2005, Patty helped launch and manage the Energy Foundation’s China Sustainable Energy Program, the first major philanthropic initiative on climate and energy in China. She currently resides in the Netherlands and has also lived and worked in China and Latin America. Patty has Bachelors degrees with highest honors in Economics and Environmental Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton University.