Sustainability in the Food Supply Chain: Challenges and the Role of Law & Policy
Location:
Moot Court Room,
Old College
Date/time
-
30 May 2024 14:00-18:00
31 May 2024 09:00-16:00
This event is a roundtable workshop on the topic of sustainability and food security within the food supply chain. It will be hosted in person at Edinburgh Law School in Scotland, in the School’s historical Old College.
The workshop is a collaborative project between four Law Schools in the UK and Ireland and funded by the Society of Legal Scholars and Edinburgh Law School. The purpose of the workshop is to share expertise and facilitate discussion from a range of perspectives and disciplines in this field to inform policy and to stimulate change in practice. The project further aims to build a network of interested persons to enable further research and to create impact links in this area.
The workshop will explore the role of law in addressing regulatory challenges and opportunities in food supply chains. It will assess the role of commercial & contract law and their limitations, actual or perceived, in achieving sustainability and food security. Contributions are invited from a broad spectrum of legal and policy arenas, including but not limited to competition law, corporate law & sustainability, food, agriculture & environmental policy. Topics engaging in an assessment of policy coherence with a view to sustainability and food security, whether at UK, European Union or international levels are welcome.
The workshop will commence with a joint keynote address by Professor Fabrizio Cafaggi, European University Institute, Italy and Professor Paola Iamiceli, University of Trento, Italy. It will be structured as four thematic round-tables. A 5-minute presentation of each panel member will precede the round-table discussion.
Read a summary and reflection of the event
Call for papers
Persons interested in participation, whether from academia, practice, policy, business, farming or third sector, are invited to submit their titles and abstracts of 300-400 words by email with the header “Sustainability in the Food Supply Chain” to Simone.Lamont-Black@ed.ac.uk
Deadline for submissions of abstracts is 5 April 2024.
Notification of acceptance will be sent no later than 22 April 2024.
Successful candidates will be asked to submit a short paper or outline of their contribution for circulation no later than 22 May 2024.
Early Career and PhD Researchers are welcome. To enable their participation, candidates can apply for a bursary to contribute to their costs for travel and accommodation. Funds are limited and candidates are asked to give notice of intention to apply for the bursary at the time of submission of their abstract.
Day 1 Thursday 30 May 14:00 – 18:00
Regulatory challenges and opportunities in food supply chains
13:30 Registration - Tea and coffee on arrival
14.00 - 14.10 Opening remarks
14:10 - 15:40 Roundtable 1, theme 1 - Regulating farming and food supply chains
Chair: Jeannette Tramhel, Senior Legal Consultant, UNIDROIT, Italy
Participants:
· David Kennedy, Partner: Corporate Sustainability, EY (online)
· Fiona Smith, Research Professorial Fellow at the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex
· Loraine Hartley, Commodity Manager, National Procurement, Procurement, Commissioning and Facilities, NHS National Services Scotland
· Niamh Lenehan, CEO of An Rialálaí Agraibhia (Agri-Food Regulator), Ireland
· Oriana Casasola, Lecturer in Commercial, Corporate and Banking Law, University of Leeds
· Peter Samsom, Land Workers Alliance, UK
· Ryan Douglas, Vice Chair of North Lanarkshire NFU and COCOREADO Ambassador
15.40-16.00 Break - Tea & Coffee
16:00-16:30 Keynote - Fabrizio Cafaggi, Consiglio di Stato, Italy
“Power and liabilities in agri-food supply chains: shortcomings due to misalignment and potential responses”
16:30 – 18.00 Roundtable 2, theme 2 - The role of contract law in causing and responding to the regulatory challenges in food supply chains (encompassing the Q&A on keynote)
Chair: Paola Iamiceli, Professor of Private Law, University of Trento, Italy
Participants:
· Andrew McLean, Lecturer in Law & Political Economy, The University of Edinburgh
· Claudia Paduano, Lecturer in Business Law, University of Leeds
· Catherine Pedamon, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Westminster, London
· Johan Vanneron, Assistant Professor, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Attorney at law, Vannerom & Partners
· Karen Lynch Shally, Lecturer/Assistant Professor, Maynooth University, Ireland
· Nyaguthii Maina, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) (online)
· Richard D Leslie, Partner, Rural Property & Business, Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP
· Simone Lamont-Black, Senior Lecturer in International Trade Law, The University of Edinburgh
· Timothy J. Dodsworth, Senior Lecturer in Law, Newcastle Law School
19:30 – 22:00 Networking Dinner
Day 2 Friday 31 May 9:00 - 16:00
Enhancing Sustainability in food supply chains
9:00-10:30 Roundtable 3, theme 3 - Standards and values in international trade and sustainability
Chair: Fiona Smith, Research Professorial Fellow at the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex
Participants:
· Ana Maria Daza-Clark, Lecturer in International Law, The University of Edinburgh
· Amber Darr, Lecturer in Competition Law, University of Manchester
· Fabrizio Cafaggi, Consiglio di Stato, Italy
· Jacquelyn MacLennon, Hon. Professor, The University of Edinburgh Law School, Avocat Barreau de Bruxelles, Solicitor Scotland
· Johanna Hoekstra, Lecturer in International Commercial Law, The University of Edinburgh
· Luis Felipe Yanes, Scottish Human Rights Commission
· Paola Iamiceli, Professor of Private Law, University of Trento, Italy
· Puranjoy Ghosh, Assistant Professor, School of Law, KIIT, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India (online)
10:30 –11:00 Break - Tea & Coffee
11:00 –12:30 Roundtable 4, theme 4 - Policy gaps and failure impacting sustainability in food supply chains
Chair: Simone Lamont-Black, Senior Lecturer in International Trade Law, The University of Edinburgh
Participants:
· Carrie Bradshaw, Lecturer in Law, University of Leeds
· Denise Walton, Chair, Nature Friendly Farming Network, Scotland (online)
· Esteban Mezzano, General Counsel Corporate Operations & Sustainability at Nestlé (online)
· Faical Akaichi, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Programme Director MSc Food Security, Scotland’s Rural College
· Giulia Petrachi, PhD Researcher, University of Oslo
· Jane Midgley, Reader in Urban Social and Economic Practice, Newcastle University
· Mary Brennan, Professor of Food Marketing and Society, The University of Edinburgh
· Montserrat Costa-Font, Senior Lecturer and Programme Director MSc Food Security, Scotland’s Rural College
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch Break
13:30 – 14:00 Keynote - Jeannette Tramhel, Senior Legal Consultant, UNIDROIT, Italy
“The Supply Chain Governance Gap: What Role for Private International Law?”
14:00– 15:30 Roundtable 5, open discussion - Forward looking: next steps
15:30 - 15:45 Final Remarks - Consolidation and outlook