The recent farmer’s protests make you think about what the future of our food production will look like. Should we trust so-called technological innovations to solve most pollution problems or is this kind of technology, not the holy grail that we want it to be?
No longer Science Fiction
Potential food scarcity in the future, climate change, and recent Dutch farmers’ protests call for starting to critically think about how food should be produced. Technological innovations are often mentioned as the solution to most of our problems. Examples of ‘smart farming’ include GPS steered combines, field-scanning drones that advise where more fertilizer is needed, genetic modification and manipulation of crops to make them more disease- and drought-resistant, the use of big data and AI to optimize farming, 3D food printing and creating lab-grown meat.
Technology at the Dinner Table
While many of these technologies are already being used or nearing the end of their experimental phase, what are the exact opportunities, and risks of these new agriculture technologies? Do we really want these technologies to be used for producing the food that we consume?
Symposium
During this symposium, we will explore the relation between food production and innovative technologies with experts from various disciplines. We will start with a keynote lecture by dr. Oane Visser (Agrarian Studies) after which we follow with a short case-study lecture on In Vitro Meat by dr. Amanda Cawston (Philosophy). There will be time for an interactive discussion with the guest speakers so that you, too, could share your own opinions.
To attend in person, please use this Registration form ‘The Technological Future of Food & Farming’ | Tilburg University
Profile
Dr. Oane Visser is Associate Professor in Agrarian Studies. His research interests revolve around digital technologies in agriculture and development more broadly, land, large-scale farming, and financialization of agriculture, smallholders, alternative food networks, and rural movements.
Visser earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Before coming to the ISS, he was an assistant professor at subsequently the Department of Research Methods and the Dept. of Anthropology and Development Studies at Radboud University. He has been visiting fellow at Cornell University (2010, 2014), City University New York (2014), Oxford University (2015), and the University of Toronto (2016). In the past years, he won numerous research grants (e.g. from European Research Council (ERC), Land Academy, Toyota Foundation, ISRF).
Profile
Dr. Amanda Cawston is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Tilburg University. Her expertise lies within political philosophy, including the ethics of violence and non-violence, feminist philosophy, migration ethics, and topics in animal ethics. She has written on pacifism, the feminist debate on pornography, competition, and self-sacrifice.
This symposium is organized by Studium Generale and AI Forward Forum.
Studium Generale organizes extra-curricular and public lectures, symposiums, and debates on the campus and in the city for a broad audience of students, university staff, alumni, and other interested parties. As we are part of Tilburg University, they aim to provide insight into the relationship between the sciences, to stimulate individual development, and to promote a sense of social responsibility among students, also referred to as Bildung. The idea underlying Bildung is that the university is more than a place where academic knowledge and skills are developed. It is also an environment in which citizens of the world are educated and where important democratic values are taught and reinforced. At university, young people are trained to fill positions of responsibility in society, people with an eye for the common good and with a sense of who they are and what they stand for. More information can be found on Studium Generale | Tilburg University.