Published 14/10/2013

Compassion is delighted our partners the Sustainable Food Trust are holding their first public conference on the 6th December 2013 at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

The conference will bring together leading experts from food and agriculture as well as economists, researchers, policy makers and food companies. The event will present an opportunity to discuss the development of a new economic model for a sustainable future and to drive change towards a more sustainable food industry.

Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion says: "The current food system, increasingly based on the industrial model, is hugely wasteful. More than half the food value of the world's crop harvest is lost, much of this in the form of food waste and feeding vast quantities of grain to factory farmed animals."

Currently, the price of food does not take into account the impact it has on the environment, human health and society. The Sustainable Food Trust is calling for the price of food to reflect the true cost of production; which it calls 'True Cost Accounting'.

Earlier this year, HRH Prince Charles questioned the consequences of our desire for cheap food, including environmental impacts and detriment to as human health, he supported the introduction of True Cost Accounting.

The Sustainable Food Trust is committed to explore solutions for a food production system which causes the least possible harm to both humans and the environment.