ASH CLOUD

 This  episode of Ash Cloud is brought to you in partnership with CSIRO.

Proteins play many critical roles in our bodies, and in the plants, animals, fungi and microbes that are our source of food and nutrition. Disease, brain function, appetite, movement, allergies, and thousands of other metabolic process all require proteins. This is  in addition to the need for protein to build and maintain  muscle. Growing global populations are dramatically increasing protein demand and this demand is putting ever greater pressure on our climate and environment. Meeting this demand sustainably requires new thinking on how we produce and consume protein.

Michelle Colgrave is the Deputy Director (Impact) at CSIRO Agriculture and Food where she uses her scientific background in the study of proteins across agriculture and food science to benefit human health and food sustainability.  Together with her CSIRO team and partner organizations she is working to deliver more sustainable, productive, and resilient agricultural and food systems.

Balancing the roles of plant protein, animal protein, and novel non meat proteins is an opportunity to enhance the amount of protein we can produce sustainably. Michelle and her team prefer the term complimentary protein to describe the suite of new and emerging protein technologies including fermentation, algae, fungi, insect, and cell cultures that can improve productivity, nutrient composition, bioavailability, and the flavour of novels foods.  

I recently caught up with Michelle to discuss opportunities to improve the sustainability of protein production, the important research her team is doing to alleviate the negative affects that allergy causing anti-nutritional proteins have on the lives of thousand of people globally, opportunities to enhance hybrid foods by incorporating legumes, and the work she is doing with New Mexico University to improve reproductive efficiency in livestock.

You can listen to our conversation here.

Additional information on the work of CSIRO Agriculture and Food that we discussed in this episode can be found at these links:

https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/articles/2022/january/whats-brewing-precision-fermentation

https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/articles/2022/november/proteins-of-the-future-using-precision-fermentation-to-develop-new-ingredients

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Climate change is a global challenge, but interventions can only be implemented locally. Understanding the local cultures, economies, politics, language, and production systems is critical for any intervention to make an impact. Across the developing world the greatest opportunity to limit livestock methane emissions and improve food security is through improved animal nutrition and livestock genetics. In the developed world the opportunity lies in absolute methane emission reductions with genetics, the use of feed additives, and increasingly through a much improved understanding of the microbiome having the greatest potential to make significant impact.

 Ermias Kebreab from UC Davis has been leading efforts to improve sustainability and reduce the climate impact of agriculture across the developed and developing worlds.

Across the Global South he has been working with farmers to develop digital tools and feed libraries in local languages to enable farmers to improve their productivity, efficiency of production, and reduce methane emissions. He started working in Vietnam alongside the State Department 10 years ago. Through the support of the Global Methane Hub these programs have now been extended to include Thailand, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Ethiopia, and a number of West African countries coordinated in Cameroon.

To achieve the absolute reduction in emissions needed across the Global North Ermias is working with UC Berkeley using CRISPR and meta genomics to identify microbes and the genes that are responsible for methanogenesis. A critical component of this is also understanding what happens to the hydrogen because if you can redirect the hydrogen away from methane you can improve productivity and feed efficiency at the same time as reducing emissions. This win win is a huge advantage in achieving wide spread farmer adoption and is equally applicable to lower income countries and wealthy countries.

I recently caught up with Ermias to discuss his work. You can listen to the conversation here.  

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Reducing methane emissions is the greatest opportunity to limit warming in the short term. With roughly 30% of current temperature increases are caused by methane, global food systems being responsible for 60% of methane emissions as a continuum from production to waste, and  80% of recent emissions have come from non-OECD countries  the methane challenge intimately linked to the International development challenge.

To address this solution that are fit for purpose need to be developed. With feed additive solutions being only  applicable to 2% of global production systems other mechanisms to reduce methane are needed that do not compromise livelihoods and food security.

Marcelo Mena is Chief Executive Office at the Global Methane Hub and the former Environment Minister for Chile from 2014 to 2018. Together with his team, the Global Methane Hub is bringing together philanthropic funding from the likes of Bezos Earth Fund and the Gates Foundation alongside government and private sector funds to create collaborative solutions across the Global South and the Global North.

I recently caught up with Marcelo to discuss the importance of addressing methane emissions globally, the need for solutions that align with the sources of those emissions and the collaborative partnerships and funding mechanisms that must be developed to have a real impact. 

You can listen to our conversation here.

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Recent farmer protests across Europe have highlighted the political battleground around sustainable agriculture. The absence of effective policies and support for a just transition to Net Zero is positioning farmers as political pawns who are being exploitation by people outside the farming community pushing their own agendas.

Farmers are increasingly being squeezed between decreasing margins, increasing costs, increasing regulations, less market power.  At the same time the growing politicisation of  the rural urban divide is not focused on actually addressing farmer livelihoods but is being fuelled to drive the political agendas of people outside the agricultural community.  At the same time the increasing fiscal demands of extreme weather events and geopolitical instability are in direct competition with funding for climate mitigation strategies.

Tim Benton is Research Director for the Environment, and society at Chatham House where he studies  food security and food systems and how to increase their resilience to climate change, reduce their environmental footprints and improve public health through nutrition. In his recent paper on the European farmer protests he highlighted the need for a just transition as farmers are being squeezed between increasing regulatory framework and prices they are receiving for their produce.  I recently caught up with Tim to discuss the politics around these global farmer protests,  the costs involved in managing the impacts of climate change on our economies compared, and the lack of political will to take on the necessary investment.

You can listen to our conversation here.

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The climate impact of animal agriculture is only one of the aspects that needs to be addressed for sustainable productions systems. The importance and urgency to mitigate methane emissions must be integrated with the social and economic aspects of livestock production and the other environmental issues such as nutrient management and biodiversity. 

The current state of our food systems are the result of decades and even centuries of the choices people have made which will take time to change. When it comes to global warming methane is the emergency brake that can limit temperature rises in the short term. Methane from livestock is one of the global methane sources and a key focus of Sara Place’s work.

Over the last 12 months her team has collected and analysed samples from over 900 animals. This research showed over 30% variation in emissions from similar animals under similar conditions, the cause of which is yet to be understood. This huge variation is an opportunity to use selecting breeding to permanently lower livestock emission. However, to achieve this there will need to be a vast increase in the numbers of animals monitored.

Sara Place  is an expert in livestock systems sustainability for AgNext at Colorado State University where she brings where she combines her methane mitigation work with her experience in all aspects of livestock sustainability across academia, industry associations, and private industry. I recently caught up with Sara to discuss his work. You can listen to the conversation here.

AgNext at Colorado State University is wholly focused on researching, teaching and communicating their work on sustainable animal agriculture. 

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Growing anthropocentrism is one of the underlying root causes of our ecological crisis. In recent decades humans have become increasingly disconnected from our food. While for thousands of years obtaining food and water was the top priority of most human societies. Today, this is no longer the case and in today's society food is increasing becoming an a political issue, especially for meat and animal products.

I recently caught up with Dr Sparsha Saha from Harvard University to discuss research focuses on how voters respond to issues around meat, animal rights, and the links between animal agriculture, food accessibility, and climate change. Sparsha is the only empirical political scientist studying meat politics. You can listen to the conversation here. 

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Less than 5% of climate finance is focused on addressing methane, and less than 2% of that finance is for the livestock sector. This is despite the fact that 155 countries agreed that rapidly reducing methane emissions from energy, agriculture, and waste is  the single most effective strategy to keep the goal of limiting warming to 1.5˚C.

The EPA estimates that 37% of methane emissions are from agriculture, with livestock contributing 32% of those emissions.  Low and middle income countries contribute over 70% of global livestock methane emissions, yet the climate is agnostic about the source of GHG emissions, so the lack of investment and support addressing methane emissions  across the Global South is an ever increasing strategic risk. 

Aimable Uwizeye is a Livestock Policy Officer for the Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations where he leads programs aiming at improving the sustainability of global livestock systems with a particular emphasis on innovation and climate.  Aimable recently coordinated the production of the Methane emissions in livestock and rice systems  report which highlighted the sources of methane emissions, opportunities to mitigate emissions, and the need to address methane mitigation in low and middle income counties. I recently caught up with Aimable to discuss his work. You can listen to the conversation here. 

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Of the 25 countries that are least able to adapt to the impacts of climate change about 14 of those countries or 56% are currently affected by armed conflict.

The intersection of conflict and food insecurity is an area of series concern in many of the places where the International Committee of the Red Cross works. The 2023 global report of food crises reported that around 250 million people globally were food insecure and in need of urgent food assistance. This is the highest level in the seven year history of the report. There are currently 100 armed conflicts globally involving around 60 states and 100 or more non state groups. The number of armed conflicts has increased over recent decades.  In 2022, 120 million people were pushed into food insecurity by conflict.

Frequently it is the most vulnerable, including women headed households, that suffer the most from conflict and climate related food insecurity. This is not helped by the continuing weaponization of food, such as the restrictions of Black Sea grain export during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the sieges initiated by ISIS the recent Syria conflict.

David Tuck is the Head of Mission, Australia, for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). David has spent the last twenty years working as a legal advisor at the International Red Cross across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.  During this time, he has witnessed the impacts of conflict on civilian populations including how the combination of conflict, climate change, and food insecurity have a multiplying effect that further weakens the resilience of effected societies. I recently caught up with David to discuss his work. You can listen to the conversation here. 

The ICRC was created in 1863 following the Battle of Solferino. The sole objective of the ICRC has been to ensure protection and assistance for the victims of armed conflict. The ICRC is mandated globally to ensure all side of armed convicts adhere to the Geneva Conventions. 

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Currently over 50% of the world’s population is undernourished. There is generally not a shortage of food calories but a shortage of nutrients. This issue exists in rich countries, middle income countries, and poor countries. The traditional solution that has provided these nutrients to human populations for thousands of years is animals, both farmed livestock and hunted wild species.

In recent decades the vast increase in the numbers of farmed livestock and how they are produced has created severe environmental burdens which are unsustainable. The larger the concentration of these systems the higher is the risk of environmental hazards. However, with good management these risks can be mitigated.

I recently caught up with Dr. Peer Ederer to discuss the complex role livestock systems have in our food systems,  the positive and negative environmental and social burdens of these systems, and the vital role they provide nutritionally. In our conversation Dr. Ederer the role of small holder family farms in our food systems and the need for empathy  when developing innovations and solutions to these global challenges. 

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Everyday choices are made about the food we eat by all 8 billion people on the planet. These choices impact our health and the health of the environment and climate. But what drives us to make the decisions we do and what would need to be done to change our decision making to improve both our health and reduce the environmental impact of food production. 

I recently caught up with Prof. Barbara Mullan from Curtin University to discuss these issues. Most of us know that many of the things we eat will likely have detrimental effects on our health, yet despite this knowledge we continue our poor diets and the incidence of metabolic disease continues to increase. Even the broad evidence that metabolic disease increased our susceptibility to severe Covid did little to change behaviour. In our conversation Prof. Mullan explores the social, cultural, educational, and economic drivers behind this decision making and also the nuances of human behaviour.

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