Feed: a food systems podcast

Afleveringen

1. Dire Straits: Hormuz, Fertilizers, and Food

   14 oktober 2026 · 29 min

   Afspelen
   The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted global flows of fossil fuels and fertilizers. But what does a shipping route in the Middle East have to do with the price of food? How are farmers coping? And what does this disruption tell us about our food system’s dependence on fossil fuels and synthetic fertilizers? Lees meer

   Synthetic fertilizers tie food production to fossil fuels, leaving farmers exposed to price shocks and geopolitical disruption. In this episode, food systems experts unpack the risks of that dependence, the alternatives already taking shape, and how philanthropy can help build more resilient food systems.

   Two years after the original Fuel To Fork podcast series, we return to the connections between food and fossil fuels to ask what has changed – and whether our food systems are any better prepared for the next shock.

   Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org

   For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
   episode107

   Listen to Fuel to Fork

   Listen to Feeding 1 in 6: China and the Future of Food

   Guests

   Anna Lappé, Global Alliance for the Future of Food

   Jennifer Clapp, IPES-Food

   Lisa Tostado, Center for International Environmental Law

   Joanna Larson, Prairie Gates Farm

   Episode produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions.

2. Plant protein without pretending

   24 september 2026 · 30 min

   Afspelen
   What if the future of plant-based food isn't about faking meat, but inventing something entirely new? We go inside a student hackathon at Wageningen University (WUR) and follow the winning concept from whiteboard sketch to test kitchen to campus cafeteria. Along the way, food scientists and student organizers weigh in on the potential for the food industry to not always try to imitate meat. Lees meer

   This episode was produced in collaboration with Wageningen Alt Protein Project (WAPP).

   Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org

   For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
   episode106

   Guest

   Melania Zanforlin, Co-chair WAPP

   Joaquin Fogel, Co-chair WAPP

   Dr. Laurice Pouvreau, Senior Protein Scientist at WUR

   Dr. Stacy Pyett, Program Manager at WUR

   Andy Bingham, Senior Food Application Scientist and Executive Chef at Kalsec Europe

   Dr. Raffaella Inchingolo, Lead Food Scientist at Kalsec Europe

   Dr. Guido Sala, Researcher in food physics and Molecular Gastronomy at WUR

   Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Melania Zanforlin. Produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions.

3. Bonus. The hidden costs of biosecurity

   23 juli 2026 · 26 min

   Afspelen
   After the 2018 African Swine Fever outbreak led to the culling of over a hundred million pigs, China moved toward larger, more biosecure, high-rise hog farms. Human geographer Ray Chan takes us inside these operations. He argues that biosecurity isn't only about preventing disease. He calls it a form of governance, deciding whose risk gets prioritized and how both people and animals are expected to behave. Lees meer

   For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
   episode105

   Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org

   Guest

   Dr Ray Chan, Human Geographer at Royal Agricultural University

   Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions.

4. Bonus. The futures of China's countryside

   9 juli 2026 · 42 min

   Afspelen
   China's countryside isn't heading toward one future. Sociologist Forrest Zhang walks us through four different scenarios: suburbanizing villages turned tourist destinations, industrial-scale grain belts managed by smart phones, intensive vegetable farms facing a looming labor crisis, and aging villagers returning to subsistence farming. We explore the shift from socialist to capitalist agriculture, and ask whether the next era may take a "sustainability turn,” a door opened by a shrinking population, food oversupply, and a rising public health crisis. Lees meer

   For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
   episode104

   Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org

   Listen to China's Food Future (Part 1).

   Guest

   Prof Qian Forrest Zhang, Singapore Management University

   Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions.

5. Bonus. China's food future

   25 juni 2026 · 44 min

   Afspelen
   China is currently the world's largest importer of agricultural products, buying 60% of globally traded soy. But a 2026 consultation paper by SystemIQ argues China may be approaching a turning point. In the coming decades, China could shift from being a net food importer to net food exporter of animal proteins. We dive into the analysis with the paper's authors to see how plausible that scenario might be, what it would take to get there including the role of alternative proteins in that future, and what might be the implications for global food systems. Lees meer

   For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
   episode103

   Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org

   Read the consultation paper: China's Food Future (SystemIQ, 2026)

   Guests

   Anna Morser, Director at SystemIQ

   Alex Andreoli, Manager at SystemIQ

   Fengwei Ina Liu, Director of FOLU China

   Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions.

6. Feeding 1 in 6. Small mighty fish farms

   11 juni 2026 · 51 min

   Afspelen
   In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping's government decided not to regulate its fishing sector. What grew out of that space was extraordinary. Today China produces 76 million tonnes of seafood a year, and a mounting environmental cost. This episode follows the small farms and the global infrastructure that connects them, and asks what happens when a government tries to course correct a system it deliberately set loose. Lees meer

   For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
   episode102

   Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org

   Guests

   Han Han, Founder and director of NGO China Blue Sustainability Institute

   Xuefei Shi, Researcher at Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen, Norway

   James Keeley, Food and agricultural development consultant and China specialist

   Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Sound mixing by Martin Palmqvist. Music by Blue dot sessions.

7. Feeding 1 in 6. Who grows the rice

   3 juni 2026 · 44 min

   Afspelen
   One-third of the world's rice is grown in China, on less than a fifth of the world's rice-growing area, by farmers whose average age is over 55, in a countryside that is slowly emptying. This episode asks how that's possible, and how much longer it can last. Lees meer

   For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
   episode101

   Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org

   Guests

   Lena Kaufmann, Social Anthropologist at Université de Fribourg

   Li Zhang, Prof in Sociology and Environmental Studies at Amherst Colleage

   Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Sound mixing by Martin Palmqvist. Music by Blue dot sessions.

8. Feeding 1 in 6. Vertical pork

   28 mei 2026 · 59 min

   Afspelen
   Today China produces roughly half the world's pork. Getting there required swine genetics from multiple continents, feed from Brazil, and a disease outbreak that wiped out hundreds of millions of animals. This episode asks how they did it, and what that cost - to the household pig, to the smallholder farmer, and to ecosystems thousands of kilometers away. Lees meer

   For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
   episode100

   Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org

   Guests

   Ron Lane, Agricultural consultant in Beijing

   Li Zhang, Prof in Sociology and Environmental Studies at Amherst College

   Gustavo Oliveira, Prof in Geography at Clark University

   Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Sound mixing by Martin Palmqvist. Music by Blue dot sessions.

9. Feeding 1 in 6. Can you feed the people?

   21 mei 2026 · 38 min

   Afspelen
   In sixty years China moved from catastrophic famine to feeding 1.4 billion people. This episode asks how that transformation happened - and what it set in motion. Lees meer

   For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
   episode99

   Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org

   Guests

   Michelle King, Prof in Chinese History at UNC

   Zhang Hongzhou, Prof in International Political Economy at RSIS

   Fengwei Ina Liu, Director of FOLU China

   Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Sound mixing by Martin Palmqvist. Music by Blue dot sessions.

10. Feeding 1 in 6. China and the future of food (Trailer)

    13 mei 2026 · 1 min

    Afspelen
    In sixty years, China has moved from catastrophic famine to now feeding one in six people on the planet. Following three foods - pork, rice, and fish - this series traces a transformation that has emptied the Chinese countryside, reshaped ecosystems from Brazil to the South China Sea, and produced the high-rise hog farm model that is being exported across the world. We examine the competing priorities driving this transformation, the distributed costs and benefits, and what it means for the rest of the world. Lees meer

    "Feeding 1 in 6: China and the future of food" arrives in this feed on 21 May 2026.

    More info here

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