Can humanity feed nearly 10 billion people without frying the planet? That question is at the heart of journalist Michael Grunwald’s provocative argument in Sorry, This Is the Future of Food, his recent New York Times essay and the basis of his forthcoming book, We Are Eating the Earth. He warns that we’re clearing an acre of rainforest every six seconds to grow more food — and even if we quit fossil fuels, we won’t avert climate chaos unless we fix how we use land. In this episode, Grunwald makes the case that high-yield industrial agriculture, for all its flaws, might be our best chance to grow more food on less land. 

For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
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Pre-order We Are Eating the Earth by Michael Grunwald.

Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to [email protected]

Guest

• Michael Grunwald, Journalist and author

Host

• Jack Thompson, TABLE

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

Can we have more honest conversations about the future of food and agriculture? That’s the plea from Ken Giller, recently retired professor at Wageningen University, after four decades of witnessing both progress and setbacks in supporting farmers worldwide. We discuss the dangers of populist narratives that oversimplify agricultural challenges, how to reshape research incentives to embrace complexity and nuance, why he opposes carbon credit schemes for farmers, and more.

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

• Ken Giller, Wageningen University

Host

• Matthew Kessler, TABLE

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

What else should we consider when shifting to natural, whole foods—beyond just their health benefits? Feminist Food Journal co-founders Isabela Bonnevera and Zoë Johnson explore the deeper questions: whose labor makes these diets possible, who can afford them, and how culture and experience shape our food choices. We dive into these issues and uncover how a simple "natural foods" search on TikTok exposes striking gender dynamics.

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

• Isabela Bonnevera, FFJ + ICTA-UAB
• Zoë Johnson, FFJ + GPPi

Host

• Jackie Turner, TABLE

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

Is the battle over who controls and owns agricultural data one of the most important—and least discussed—fights in 21st-century farming? In this conversation, Jennifer Clapp (prof at the University of Waterloo and member of IPES-Food) explores the deep ties between fossil fuels and our food system, tracing their influence from fertilizers and pesticides to farm mechanization and digital agriculture. She unpacks how fossil-fueled inputs have shaped—and continue to shape—modern farming. 

For more info and resources, please visit our episode webpage.

Guests

• Jennifer Clapp, IPES-Food

Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions.

Fuel to Fork is powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food.

We gathered in Oxford to ask: Is a fossil free food system possible? 3 panelists: a farmer, an economist and biodiversity researcher, shared their expert perspectives. What technologies are on the horizon? What uncertainties do they bring? Is it better to farm differently, eat differently, plug in better tech, restrain environmentally damaging practices of food and agribusinesses, or all of the above?

Visit the episode webpage for more resources.

This series is powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and Global Alliance for the Future of Food.

Guests

• Helen Browning, Soil Association
• Rupert Simons, SystemIQ
• Emile Frison, IPES-Food

Produced by Matthew Kessler, Robbie Blake and Chantal Clément. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions.

View a 90 minute video of the full panel discussion 

Learn more about the Oxford Real Farming Conference
 

What would a food system free of fossil fuels look like by 2050? What insights surprised the experts featured in this series? And what trade-offs must we navigate to shape this future? In our final episode, we shift from acknowledging the 'fossil fuel problem in food' to exploring actionable solutions.

Visit the episode webpage for more resources.

This series is powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and Global Alliance for the Future of Food.

Guests

• Raj Patel, IPES-Food
• Anna Lappé, Global Alliance for the Future of Food
• Darrin Qualman, National Farmers Union (Canada)
• Galina Angarova, SIRGE
• Molly Anderson, IPES-Food

Produced by Matthew Kessler, Anna Paskal and Nicole Pita. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions.

Fossil fuels are hiding in plain sight in our kitchens—powering stoves and cooling refrigerators, plus they're fueling supply chains. They shape how we cook, eat and connect with food. In this episode, we explore how to reduce reliance on fossil fuels in home and commercial kitchens. What counts as a 'clean' cooking fuel in Malawi versus the United States? And what would it take to transform the energy grid powering our food systems? Researchers, chefs, and activists weigh in.

Visit the episode webpage for more resources.

This series is powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and Global Alliance for the Future of Food.

Guests

• Christa Roth, Cleaner Cooking Coalition
• Christopher Galarza, Forward Dining Solutions
• Gabriel Eckhouse, Uppsala University
• Galina Angarova, SIRGE
• Nnimmo Bassey, Home of Mother Earth Foundation
• Errol Schweizer, IPES-Food
• Georgina Catacora-Vargas, IPES Food

Produced by Matthew Kessler, Anna Paskal and Nicole Pita. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions.

When we talk about the future of food, we usually picture what's growing in the fields or what's on our dinner plates. But maybe we should pay a little more attention to everything happening in between. Processing and packaging consumes the largest share of fossil fuels in our food system— more than 40%. Our growing reliance on ultra-processed foods, and plastics across the supply chain is making food production more energy-intensive than ever before.

Visit the episode webpage for more resources.

This series is powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and Global Alliance for the Future of Food.

Guests

• Emma Priestland, Break Free From Plastic
• Errol Schweizer, IPES-Food
• Rachel Muncrief, International Council on Clean Transportation
• Georgina Catacora-Vargas, IPES Food

Produced by Matthew Kessler, Anna Paskal and Nicole Pita. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions.

What are the hidden costs of our current food system and its deep reliance on fossil fuels, a system that burdens citizens with financial, health and environmental consequences? With Raj Patel, research professor at the University Texas at Austin and IPES-Food panel member, we cover this and Christopher Columbus's wicked legacy, middle-class environmentalism, and what a food system free of fossil fuels could look like.  

We thought this extended interview with Raj Patel was so compelling we wanted to share it in its entirety.

For more info and resources, please visit our episode webpage.

Guests

• Raj Patel, IPES-Food

Produced by Matthew Kessler, Anna Paskal and Nicole Pita. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions.

Fuel to Fork is powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food.

Fossil fuels are woven into nearly every aspect of modern agriculture - from powering farm machinery to creating plastics and supporting data-driven tech like precision agriculture. But what would it take to reduce or even eliminate their use on farms? We dive into both replacement technologies and transformative food production methods like agroecology, exploring the obstacles and limitations of scaling different solutions.

Visit the episode webpage for more resources.

This series is powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and Global Alliance for the Future of Food.

Guests

• Darrin Qualman, National Farmers Union Canada
• Pat Mooney, IPES Food
• Jennifer Clapp, IPES Food
• Swati Renduchintala, CIFOR-ICRAF

Produced by Matthew Kessler, Anna Paskal and Nicole Pita. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions.