HS GP, writer and television personality Dr Amir Khan talks about his passion for wildlife conservation and support for wildlife friendly and healthy farming practices. The event is the festival’s fourth annual hosting of Compassion in World Farming’s Peter Roberts Memorial Lecture, named in honour of the charity’s founder, a British farmer, who became horrified at the development of factory farming.

Khan was among signatories of an open letter to delegates to the COP27 climate conference in 2022 calling on world leaders to end factory farming and transform the global food system. They argued that there was an urgent need to transform food production because the livestock sector alone was producing more greenhouse gases than the world’s planes, trains and cars combined. Khan will speak for 20 minutes before a short discussion with chief executive of Compassion in World Farming Philip Lymbery.

Khan is a full-time GP working in Bradford and has a special interest in type 2 diabetes. He is a regular on television including as resident doctor on Good Morning Britain, appearances on GPs Behind Closed Doors, and fronting shows such as Channel 5’s Dr Amir’s Sugar Crash and You Are What You Eat. Outside medicine he has a passion for wildlife and is president of the RSPB and vice-president of The Wildlife Trusts.

The first Peter Roberts Memorial Lecture was given by John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods Market, in 2007. Subsequent lectures have been given by others including by Lester Brown, founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute and author of over 50 books, and Rajendra Pachauri during his chairmanship of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The festival has hosted lectures by the wildlife presenter Chris Packham, the actress Joanna Lumley and children’s writer Michael Morpurgo.

This event is part of a series under the banner Pasture to Plate® that looks at the environmental and health benefits of raising food on pasture and getting it to the consumer quickly through a short supply chain.

In association with Compassion in World Farming.

For more info and to buy tickets: Transforming Food Production: The Peter Roberts Memorial Lecture | Oxford Literary Festival