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Food for thought: food systems, livestock futures and animal health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2013

Angela Wilkinson
Angela Wilkinson*
Affiliation:
Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford, Hayes House, 75 George Street, Oxford OX1 2BQ, UK
*
E-mail: angela.wilkinson@smithschool.ox.ac.uk
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Abstract

Global food security, livestock production and animal health are inextricably bound. However, our focus on the future tends to disaggregate food and health into largely separate domains. Indeed, much foresight work is either food systems or health-based with little overlap in terms of predictions or narratives. Work on animal health is no exception. Part of the problem is the fundamental misunderstanding of the role, nature and impact of the modern futures tool kit. Here, I outline three key issues in futures research ranging from methodological confusion over the application of scenarios to the failure to effectively integrate multiple methodologies to the gap between the need for more evidence and power and control over futures processes. At its core, however, a better understanding of the narrative and worldview framing much of the futures work in animal health is required to enhance the value and impact of such exercises.

Keywords

animal health and climate changeglobal food systemsfutures toolkitscenariosforecastingvisioning
Type
Review Article
Information
Animal Health Research Reviews , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , December 2013 , pp. 159 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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