Feed: a food systems podcast

Just three decades ago, the world looked very different: smartphones wouldn't appear for another 15 years, and in the world of food, the organic and local farming movements looked very different than they do today. Moving three decades into the future, what might food systems look like in 2050? We speak with Charles Godfray, director of the Oxford Martin School, and Pat Mooney, executive director of the ETC group, and ask what their ideal food future is, how to get there and what they are most concerned about.For more info and transcript, please visit: http://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode16To view the whole event: https://tabledebates.org/research-library/recording-table-launch-event-should-future-food-be-global-or-local

In the final episode of our first season, we share our main findings and reflections from the past 14 conversations we had about scale in food systems. We present our guests' different views on whether local or global food systems are more sustainable and resilient, and whether that is even the right question to ask. We discuss the need for a diversity of scales and why both small and large farms and long and short supply chains are important. Finally, we examine whether large-scale elements of food systems make it difficult for smaller scale systems to survive and thrive.For more info and transcript, please visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode15

In our conversation today with three researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Elin Röös, Robin Harder and Johan Karlsson), we discuss what food systems models can and cannot tell us about what type of future food system we'd like to create, previous projects modeling food systems at different scales (bioregion, country, continent), and how our values influence what questions we ask from a model and how we interpret its results.For more info and transcript, please visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode14

In our conversation with Felipe Roa-Clavijo (author of The Politics of Food Provisioning in Colombia: Agrarian Movements and Negotiations with the State), we discuss different narratives around food provisioning in Colombia, and find out which groups are promoting these different visions - to feed the village, feed the nation and feed the world. We talk about what it was like to be in the room during the negotiations between agrarian movements and the government, how Colombia's food system compares to the rest of Latin America, and why food can offer a valuable entry point to addressing systemic issues.For more info and transcript, visit: tabledebates.org/podcast/episode13

In our conversation with Sophia Murphy (Executive Director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy [IATP]), we talk about the importance of trade at different scales throughout the food systems. Sophia discusses how ‘local’ systems have always been a part of extensive trading networks, how trade can meet the needs of diverse constituencies across the globe, and what needs to change in international governance for this to happen.For more info and transcript, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode12

In our discussion with Klara Fischer (associate professor in rural development at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), we discuss how different smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa adopt and adapt different technologies, why new crop technologies are not scale-neutral, lessons to be learned from the Asian green revolution, and why it's important to work in interdisciplinary teams and be aware of the boundaries of our own knowledge.For more info and an episode transcript, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast-episode11

In our discussion, data scientist Vincent "Vinny" Ricciardi challenges the assumptions and evidence that are built into food systems debates. We talk about a few of the recent papers that Vinny co-authored, including one that asks how much of the world’s food supply is produced by smallholder farmers, a 50-year meta-analysis that compares how do small and large farms size up in terms of yields and biodiversity impact, and whether smallholders actually have access to broadband to become part of a data driven farming future.For more info and the episode transcript, please visit https://tabledebates.org/podcast-episode10

In our conversation with rural sociologist Jessica Duncan (Wageningen U), we talk about dialogue and participation in food policy, why we shouldn’t always be seeking consensus, and the importance of bringing diverse local actors into global policy conversations. We unpack Jessica and Priscilla Claeys' 2020 report Covid19, Gender and Food systems and discuss what is gained by "viewing the crisis from below".For more info, visit http://tabledebates.org/podcast-episode9

How can shifting towards a planet-based diet reduce biodiversity loss? In our conversation with Brent Loken, Global Food Lead Scientist, at the WWF, we unpack the 2020 report Bending the curve: The restorative power of a planet-based diet, and dive into the complexity and tradeoffs between different diets, and human and environmental health. We talk about different responsibilities of nations across the world, whether eating meat is really a problem, and why we shouldn't be betting on a single solution for transforming food systems.For more info, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast-episode8

In our conversation with social anthropologist Elena Lazos Chavero (National University of Mexico), we discuss how her research interests were formed around rainforest conservation, food systems and indigenous rights in Veracruz, Mexico. Elena explains how local and global food systems as well as urban and rural communities are highly dependent on each other. We also explore what the food sovereignty movement fights for in Mexico today.For more info and transcript, please visit: tabledebates.org/podcast-episode7