Geoff Tansey’s book, The Future Control of Food: A Guide to International Negotiations and Rules on Intellectual Property, Biodiversity and Food Security, has been out for a while but the content is as relevant now as it has ever been.  One of only seven Joseph Rowntree Visionaries, Mr. Tansey illuminates food property rights and where the decisions that we have made (and are making) regarding who owns food are taking us. While, ultimately, intellectual property rights are concerned with profit they also have an impact on other important areas of food governance, such as biodiversity and food security. The legal frameworks of The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGREA) define a large part of food property rights policy, making it a high-stakes game that only a handful can play.

Mr. Tansey’s book is now available to download for free thanks to the International Development Research Centre.  Another great link is this video presentation that walks the viewer through Geoff Tansey’s findings and simplifies some of the complexities between power and food.  Although the video quality is not perfect the content is excellent.  The run-time on this video is 34 mins.  If you are interested in a video excerpt you might also try this short interview.