To mark 50 episodes on the podcast, I share my own evolving thoughts on food. I reflect on the state of agriculture and on what sustainability might mean in the food movement today.

My experience over the last half decade engaging with the food movement has been that debates are all too often reduced to soundbites on social media. Complex arguments are reduced to 280 characters on Twitter, angry posts on Facebook, and rants on YouTube. We're talking past each other. That's unhelpful.

By sharing my thoughts, I hope to encourage more honest, open and nuanced discussions with whoever is listening.

In this episode, I briefly discuss:

The failed promises of industrial agriculture
The winners and losers of our food system
Food sustainability through different lenses
Agriculture and humanity's relationship to nature
The future of farming through Charles C. Mann's Prophets and Wizards
The land sharing land sparing debate
Funding: where does all the money flow?
Agroecology and its critics
The dilemmas of cell-based and plant-based meat

References (in chronological order):

World Health Organisation (WHO) - Obesity and Overweight Fact Sheet
Lappé, Francis M., Fowler, Carey and Collins, Joseph (1977) Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity
White, Allen (2016) - 'Solving the 10,000-Year-Old Problem of Agriculture: An Interview with Wes Jackson' In These Times Online
Jackson, Wes & Berry, Wendell (2011) Nature as Measure: The Selected Essays of Wes Jackson
Ritchie, Hannah (2021) 'Cutting down forests: what are the drivers of deforestation?' Our World In Data
United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) (2021) 'Our global food system is the primary driver of biodiversity loss'
Mann, Charles C. (2018) The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World. Knopf publishing.
Barretto, Alberto & Berndes, Göran & Sparovek, Gerd & Wirsenius, Stefan. (2013). Agricultural intensification in Brazil and its effects on land-use patterns: An analysis of the 1975–2006 period. Global change biology. 19(6). 10.1111/gcb.12174.
Holt-Giménez, Eric & Shattuck, Annie & Altieri, Miguel & Herren, Hans & Gliessman, Steve. (2012) We Already Grow Enough Food for 10 Billion People … and Still Can't End Hunger. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture 36. 595-598.
Biovision Foundation for Ecological Development & IPES-Food (2020) Money Flows: What is holding back investment in agroecological research for Africa? Biovision Foundation for Ecological Development & International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems
De Schutter, Olivier & Vermeylen, Margot (2020) The share of agroecology in Belgian official development assistance: an opportunity missed
Meier, M. S. et al. (2015) Environmental impacts of organic and conventional agricultural products – are differences captured by life cycle assessment? Journal of Environmental Management 149, 193–207
Van der Werf, H.M.G., Knudsen, M.T. & Cederberg, C. (2020) Towards better representation of organic agriculture in life cycle assessment. Nature Sustainability 3, 419–425
Declaration of the International Forum for Agroecology (2015) Nyéléni, Mali. Via Campesina website
IPES-Food (2016) From uniformity to diversity: a paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversifed agroecological systems. International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food systems.
Levidow, Les (2016) Agroecological Innovation. International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM).
Cook, C.D., Hamerschlag, K., and Klein, K. (2016) Farming for the Future: Organic and Agroecological Solutions to Feed the World. Friends of the Earth.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2009) 1.02 billion hungry.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2009) The state of food insecurity in the world. Rome, Italy: Economic and Social DevelopmentDepartment Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Reganold, J., Wachter, J. (2016) Organic agriculture in the twenty-first century. Nature Plants 2, 15221
Rodale Institute (2020) The Truth about Organic. Kutztown, PA.
Galloway McLean, Kirsty & Castillo, Ameyali & Rubis, Jennifer. (2011). Indigenous Peoples, Marginalized Populations and Climate Change: Vulnerability, Adaptation and Traditional Knowledge
Debal Deb (2009) "Valuing folk crop varieties for agroecology and food security", Independent Science News (26 October 2009).
United Nations (2015) United Nations General Assembly, Right to Food, UN Doc. A/70/287
Philpott, Stacy & Lin, Brenda & Jha, Shalene & Brines, Shannon. (2008). A multi-scale assessment of hurricane impacts based on land-use and topographic features. Agric Ecosyst Environ. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 128. 12-20.
Rosset, Peter & Sosa, Braulio & Jaime, Adilén & Avila, Rocio. (2011). The Campesino-to-Campesino Agroecology Movement of ANAP in Cuba: Social Process Methodology in the Construction of Sustainable Peasant Agriculture and Food S...