Have you thought about the system of trade that brings food to your market or grocery store? Do you wonder if that system of global food trade, where 25% of all agricultural products are now traded internationally, is a vulnerable or resilient one? Rob Bailey, climate director at Marsh & McLennan, has examined how potential disruptions to trading routes can have severe impacts on global food security.

Rob Bailey lays out the worst case scenario that could lead to a global food catastrophe. And while he paints a terrifying picture, we find that most parts of global food trade stood up remarkably well to the Covid19 pandemic. We discuss this, recommendations to increase resilience in our global food system, and more.

Check out Rob's report: Chokepoints and vulnerabilities of global food trade

For full show notes and transcript, visit: tabledebates.org/podcast-episode2

Why does agricultural research often fall short of addressing food insecurity challenges in sub-Saharan Africa? In this conversation with Ken Giller, we explore this wicked problem from a systems perspective examining the diverse drivers and experiences of smallholder farmers and the socio-ecological systems in which they are embedded.

Ken provides a nuanced look at agroecological solutions and argues that relying solely on nature-based solutions would be inadequate to address food security problems in Africa. We also talk about the huge diversity of farmers that can be found under the banner of smallholders, an in-depth examination of the “yield gap,” and what gets lost when translating research into practice.

For full show notes and transcript, visit: tabledebates.org/podcast-episode1

Introducing Feed, a food system podcast by TABLE. Co-hosts Matthew Kessler and Samara Brock tell you what you can expect when you tune in, and Tara Garnett introduces our focus for the first series of episodes: Scale in the food system!

We'll be exploring scale at multiple levels including spatial, economic, moral and temporal.  What is the right scale for a food system? Should it be local or global? When it comes to things like farms, food businesses and food system governance – is big bad, or better?

For more info, visit https://tabledebates.org/podcast

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