On 8 December 2021, TABLE hosted an open-ended discussion about power in the food system with representatives from civil society, academia, media and the private sector.  At TABLE we recognise that our own biases and perspectives will influence how we think about power in the food system so the purpose of the event is to hear a range of different views and understandings of power. This kick off event helps us think about who and what shapes, controls and influences past, present and future food systems. 

Event panelists:

• Media: Eddy Wax - Reporter covering food and agriculture for POLITICO in Brussels.
• Academia: Wendy Godek - Professor of Politics and International Relations with focus on Latin American food and agriculture politics
• Civil society: Shefali Sharma - Director of Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) Europe
• Private: Sahil Shah - Co-founder of agri-tech company Sustainable Seaweed and policy consultant
• Moderator: Matthew Kessler, Project coordinator forTABLE at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

We're curious to hear your views about power in the food system. Continue the conversation on our community platform.

In this episode we explore the role of power in multistakeholder partnerships (MSPs) with two people who are no strangers to this topic - Herman Brouwer and Joost Guijt, at Wageningen University and Research. In this conversation we ask: what are MSPs, do they actually work, and what are the different ways that power plays out in them? We learn how different food stakeholders perceive MSPs differently, whether the UN Food Systems Summit could be considered a successful MSP, and what are some tips and tracks for dealing with power in MSPs.

For more info and transcript, please visit https://tabledebtes.org/podcast/episode23/

In the third episode on power in the food system, we speak with Dr Channa Prakash, professor of crop genetics, biotechnology and genomics at Tuskegee University in the United States. Channa has been actively involved in enhancing the societal awareness of food biotechnology issues around the world. We speak with Channa about who decides what ends up on our table, discuss how his personal story connects to the Green Revolution, and unpack how he sees ideology as getting in the way of science. We also learn how Channa approaches food systems debates as we discuss Golden Rice, the Green Revolution, and different efforts to promote Organic farming across South Asia.

For more info and transcript, please visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode22

Follow Channa on Twitter: @AgBioWorld

In our second conversation exploring power in the food system, we speak with Julie Guthman, professor and food geographer at UC Santa Cruz. We ask her: how is Silicon Valley trying to transform the food system, who within Silicon Valley has the most power, and how does their vision compare with the Organic food movement? We discuss the different ways 'sustainability' is understood in these two different worlds and the broader structures that define or limit their competing visions. We also chat about how Julie's views on the Alternative Food Movement have evolved over time, and how Silicon Valley might be different if venture capitalists took her "101: Intro to Food and Ag'" class.

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For more info and transcript, please visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode20

In the first Feed episode about power we speak with Phil Howard, author of Concentration and Power in the Food System, a book that asks "who controls what we eat?" We dive right into big questions, asking whether Phil Howard’s ideal food future is compatible with capitalism. We also talk about the rise of organics, how is power distributed within corporations, how a US farmer’s prospects about staying a small and diversified operation has diminished over time, and how food corporations intent on growing cope with the fact that human stomachs remain the same size.

For more info and transcript, please visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode20

We kick off our second season introducing our new theme power in the food system. Across the season we’ll speak with researchers, farmers, activists and others to dig into what kind of power shapes food systems, if this needs to change, and how.

Send us an e-mail to [email protected] with what aspects of power you’d like to us to explore and which guests you’d like us to speak to.

For more info and transcript, please visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode19

What does it actually look like to influence large companies to change their practices? In this conversation with shareholder advocates Annalisa Tarizzo and Thomas Peterson from Green Century Capital Management, we discuss how food systems investors use their unique leverage and work with other stakeholders including agribusiness, NGOs and policymakers to build a sustainable food system. This episode is part two of three of a mini-series on COP-26.

For more info and transcript, please visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode18

Why was food absent from the climate agenda in COP-26, the global gathering that took place in Scotland in November 2021? In this bonus episode, we speak with different people who attended or advocated at COP for food to be more central to the climate agenda. We hear from a youth activist (Vera Röös), a representative of civil society (Pete Ritchie at Nourish Scotland) and a politician (Secretary of International Affairs Marta Suplicy in São Paulo), who say we cannot reach emission reduction targets without looking at food systems. In part two of this episode we will speak to policy and finance experts to hear some other perspectives on COP-26.

For more info and transcript, please visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode17

Just three decades ago, the world looked very different: smartphones wouldn't appear for another 15 years, and in the world of food, the organic and local farming movements looked very different than they do today. Moving three decades into the future, what might food systems look like in 2050? We speak with Charles Godfray, director of the Oxford Martin School, and Pat Mooney, executive director of the ETC group, and ask what their ideal food future is, how to get there and what they are most concerned about.

For more info and transcript, please visit: http://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode16

To view the whole event: https://tabledebates.org/research-library/recording-table-launch-event-should-future-food-be-global-or-local

In the final episode of our first season, we share our main findings and reflections from the past 14 conversations we had about scale in food systems. We present our guests' different views on whether local or global food systems are more sustainable and resilient, and whether that is even the right question to ask. We discuss the need for a diversity of scales and why both small and large farms and long and short supply chains are important. Finally, we examine whether large-scale elements of food systems make it difficult for smaller scale systems to survive and thrive.

For more info and transcript, please visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode15