David Barling

Professor David Barling is Director of the Centre for Agriculture, Food and Environmental Management at the University of Hertfordshire. His research focuses on food policy, food security and sustainability, and the governance of the agri-food sector. Previously, he held the position of Reader in Food Policy at City University London where he was the principal investigator on a number of externally funded research projects including EU 6th and 7th Framework projects and supervised a number of PhD students. He is co-author of Food Policy: integrating, health, environment and society (Oxford University Press 2009) and co-editor of Ethical Traceability and Communicating Food (Springer 2008). He sits on the editorial board of the journal Agriculture and Human Values. He has acted as an advisor and consultant to: UNEP, European Commission DG SANCO, European Parliament, UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, the Scottish Government, and a number of other Government and public bodies. He is a trustee of Sustain the UK NGO alliance for better food and farming. 

My research interests are broadly in the areas of food policy, security of the food supply and the political economy of food and agriculture.

This work includes:

• UK national food security policy, food supply and sustainability.
• Policy boundaries and means of national food policy integration.
• The UK state and the industrial policy for agriculture and food sectors.
• EU policies on food including: food supply chains; food sustainability and the circular economy and green economy.
• Policies and adoption of methodologies to interpret the sustainable consumption and production of food.
• The international politics and global governance of policy making on agriculture and food security
• Politics and regulation of food traceability.
• Environmental regulation of food supply chains 

Governmental bodies

• UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit’s Expert Advisory panel for Food and Food Policy Sept 2007 - July 2008.
• Scottish Government’s Expert Working Group on health and environmental sustainability on food and drink 2010.
• Invited expert to the Food Chain, Animal and Plant Health Advisory Group Assessment of SANCO Policy Impact on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), European Commission Health and Consumers Directorate General 2011.
• Department of Health (England & Wales) Improving Hospital Food Standards Project Expert Reference Group 2012-3; Expert Reference Sub-group on Sustainable Food and Catering Services 2013-2014.
• UK Conservative Party Taskforce on Public Sector procurement of Sustainable Food 2009
• UK Government Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs’ (DEFRA) Organic Action Plan team for England 2002 -7
• Food Standards Agency’s National Codex Consultative Committee

Non Governmental Bodies

• British Standards Institute committee AW/90 Quality Systems for the Food Industry
• Council member of Sustain (UK food and farming alliance of @ 100 NGOs) since 2005.
• Chair of working party for Sustain’s Good Food on a Public Plate Project (public procurement of sustainable local food) 2005 - 2012. Chair of Good Food for Our Money Campaign 2009 - 2012.
• Project Steering Board for the Sustainable Food Cities Programme 2013-2016 (Esmee Fairbairn Foundation funded c. £1m)
• Associate member of the UK Health Forum.
• Joint co-ordinator of the UK Agri-food Network a joint NGO-academic seminar series funded by the Network Foundation 2003-5
• Member of Sustainable Food Supply Chain Commission: Industry and Parliament trust, Food Ethics Council & Warwick University 2013- 2014.

Academic

• Member of Core Group of UK Research Councils’ (RCUK) Global Food Security Project: Priority questions for the UK Food System 2013.
• Editorial board of the international journal Agriculture and Human Values
• External advisor to Oxford University interdisciplinary research project Emerging Forms Of Food Consumer Behaviour and Food Governance 2013 onwards (Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, the Unit for Biocultural Variation and Obesity & the Said Business School).
• Advisory board Food Research Collaboration (Esmee Fairburn Foundation funded project): 2014-17
• Political Studies Association of the UK. PSA UK specialist groups 1. Public Policy and Administration 2. Environmental Politics
• International Academic Advisory Committee for the Masters in Food Systems, Culture and Society, from the Open University of Catalonia (UNESCO Centre for e learning).
• Food and Climate Research Network

Broadcasting

Various including: BBC TV news; BBC 24 Hour news; BBC Radio 4 AM, PM, Farming Today and Moral Maze programmes; Radio 5 News; BBC World Service.