Laura Ryan, chief executive of Lavenpark

Julia is joined by Laura Ryan, chief executive of Lavenpark, founder and global chair of Meat Business Women and co-founder of Global Meat Alliance.

An experienced marketeer and business strategist with deep knowledge of the meat industry, Laura shares her take on the prospect of carbon taxes on meat, how the sector is coping with labour challenges, supply chain disruption and soaring inflation and how processors and retailers are preparing for the Christmas trading season.

With the meat sector facing growing scrutiny from policymakers, Laura also talks about why she expects retailers and processors to recruit more senior execs and CEOs with a policy background in the future.

As regular listeners will know, Laura used to host The Pick List with Julia before having to step back from presenting duties earlier this year. She shares what she’s been working on in recent months, how she became involved in the meat sector in the first place and why she’s passionate about championing women in the industry.

Articles discussed by Laura and Julia:

Meat taxes will make British farmers go greener, says George Eustice | The Telegraph

What’s keeping your retail CEO up at night | Forbes

M&S to roll out opticians service | KAMCity

Links to the big food and grocery retail stories this week:

Sainsbury's says supply issues won't hit Christmas | BBC News

Staff shortages see UK meat carcasses sent to EU for butchering | BBC News

Supermarket Iceland pledges to become ‘plastic neutral’ from 2022 | Evening Standard

Coca-Cola to fully acquire Gatorade rival BodyArmor for $5.6 bln | Reuters

UK Dairy Roadmap unveils net zero climate ambition | Dairy Reporter

Amazon’s seventh Just Walk Out store to open over the road from Tesco’s GetGo | The Grocer

Pilgrim’s poaches ex-Sainsbury’s agricultural head | Grocery Gazette

Asda introduces ‘quieter hour’ to help customers with hidden disabilities | Retail Gazette

‘Christmas dinner in a can’ promises answer to supermarket shortages | The Guardian

Learn more about the show and get in touch at thepicklist.co.uk

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