City Food & Drink Lecture 2025

By Jack Jarvis

‘Preparing to farm in 2040, with success’ was the topic of John Shropshire’s OBE (chairman of G’s Fresh) speech for the annual City Food & Drink Lecture held at Guildhall, London. Every year, the event invites over 600 high profile professionals from across the food and drink sector to engage with the Lecture through a lively panel Q&A and networking discussion. This year, Kaitie Pettifer (Food Standards Agency), Henry Dimbleby MBE (author of The National Food Strategy), and Jack Bobo (University of California) joined John on the panel which was mediated by Charlotte Smith (BBC Presenter). The Lecture was organised by the prestigious eight City liveries – namely the Worshipful Companies of Bakers, Butchers, Cooks, Distillers, Farmers, Fishmongers, Fruiterer and Poulters. Therefore, this was a great opportunity for me to expand my network and understanding of the food and drink sector beyond the realms of aquaculture.

Prior to the evening lecture, over 70 students and lecturers were invited to the Future Generation Forum (FGF) sponsored by New England Seafood International (NESI). The FGF enables young professionals a space to build relationships and exchange ideas before the main event. The FGF began with a welcome from the FGF organisers before a brief history of the City of London and Livery Companies. I must admit, I knew very little about the now 113 Livery Companies and I was amazed by their heritage with the Worshipful Company of Weavers being established in 1155! Dan Aherne (NESI CEO) followed this with an overview of the food industry and NESI. Did you know that the food sector is the size of the automotive and aerospace industries combined? Dan emphasised the importance of increasing food production, but in a sustainable and community driven manner with responsibly managed fisheries playing a key role. We then heard from various NESI employees on how they entered the food and drink industry and what they love about it. I was interested to hear that many did not ever consider the food sector and instead ‘fell into’ the industry via the opportunities it offered. The food and drink business isn’t only about ‘farming’ which I believe is a common misconception. There are a variety of careers on offer, and we heard from people in roles such as promoting sustainable and ethical business practices, seafood procurement, employee development and sales. A common attraction of the industry was the chance to travel the world, and many expressed that they could really see the impact that their work was having on the food chain. How did you come to be involved in aquaculture and what are the best aspects of your job?

The FGF ended with an exclusive Q&A with the panellists attending the evening lecture. This was a great opportunity for the young professionals within the sector to gain insights from the experts and to stimulate discussion on pressing challenges. I came to realise that aquaculture faces many of the same burdens as the other food industries, including an ageing workforce, a reactive rather than proactive mindset to harmful press, waning support from government, regulations that appear to hinder food production and the ever-increasing threat of climate change. I believe aquaculture can learn greatly from the other food sectors, and vice versa, on how to tackle certain challenges. Collaboration is key in developing a sustainable and resilient food system, and I will certainly be engaging with the other food and drink sectors from now on. Have you cooperated with the other food industries?

The key takeaways from John’s lecture ‘preparing to farm in 2040, with success’ were:

• Farming is ‘special’ as it creates an identity and emotional attachment with consumers which other businesses find difficult to replicate.

• Food security and financial sustainability must be the focus. Without them, we rely on food imports and are carbon footprint is exported.

• Investment in environmental sustainability can only be achieved when farmers are thriving rather than surviving.

• Farming must embrace new technologies such as AI and precision farming.

• A new ‘narrative’ is needed to attract and retain skilled workers in the food and drink supply chain.

After the lecture, I was honoured to be 1 of only 6 young professionals to be asked to attend a special audience with Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne. The Princess Royal deeply supported British farming, and upon outlining my PhD research on water quality and trout farming, the Princess reminisced about her recent experience visiting a salmon farm in Northern Ireland and advocated for growing more seaweed!

After such a unique event, I left the City Food and Drink Lecture with a newfound respect and understanding of the whole food and drink supply chain. I am inspired to see how I can incorporate insights from the other food industries into my PhD research to create a more industry-focussed and impactful thesis for the benefit of all food producers. I would like to give special thanks to the organisers of the City Food and Drink Lecture for hosting such a prestigious and fascinating event, NESI for sponsoring the hugely valuable Future Generation Forum as well as to The Fishmongers’ Company and the Young Aquaculture Society for their support and providing me with the opportunity to broaden my horizons beyond aquaculture. Did anyone else attend the City Food and Drink Lecture? Let us know in the comments!