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Feed: a food systems podcast

Feed: a food systems podcast

TABLEdebates.org 108 Episodes Oct 14, 2026

Feed is a food systems podcast that explores the visions, values, and evidence behind debates about food sustainability. It features conversations with diverse experts on topics such as local vs. global food systems, the role of meat in diets, and power dynamics in the food system. The podcast is a project of TABLE, originally a collaboration between the University of Oxford, SLU, and Wageningen University, and is operated by SLU.

Episodes

Dire Straits: Hormuz, Fertilizers, and Food
Dire Straits: Hormuz, Fertilizers, and Food Oct 14, 2026 1742 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? Synthetic fertilizers tie food production to fossil fuels, leaving farmers expo
Plant protein without pretending
Plant protein without pretending Sep 24, 2026 1826 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.Th
Bonus. The hidden costs of biosecurity
Bonus. The hidden costs of biosecurity Jul 23, 2026 1544 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 expec
Bonus. The futures of China's countryside
Bonus. The futures of China's countryside Jul 9, 2026 2515 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 a
Bonus. China's food future
Bonus. China's food future Jun 25, 2026 2661 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
Feeding 1 in 6. Small mighty fish farms
Feeding 1 in 6. Small mighty fish farms Jun 11, 2026 3055 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 deliber
Feeding 1 in 6. Who grows the rice
Feeding 1 in 6. Who grows the rice Jun 3, 2026 2611 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.For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode101Want to share your reflections on th
Feeding 1 in 6. Vertical pork
Feeding 1 in 6. Vertical pork May 28, 2026 3568 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.For more info, transcript and resource
Feeding 1 in 6. Can you feed the people?
Feeding 1 in 6. Can you feed the people? May 21, 2026 2266 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.For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode99Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.orgGuestsMichelle King, Prof in Chinese Histor
Feeding 1 in 6. China and the future of food (Trailer)
Feeding 1 in 6. China and the future of food (Trailer) May 13, 2026 85 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 priori
US Soy Farmer on “I can only control the things I can control”
US Soy Farmer on “I can only control the things I can control” Apr 2, 2026 2038 Soy looks different depending on where you sit. For Ryan Britt, who's farming soy, corn, wheat and cattle on over 2,000 hectares in North Central Missouri, it's the crop that reliably pays the bills. In 2025, Ryan found himself squarely in the middle of a global trade story he had very little control over. We talk about what he can control on the farm — cover cropping, no-till, rotations
Volts: Can fake meat solve climate change?
Volts: Can fake meat solve climate change? Mar 5, 2026 5403 After several hype years, plant-based and cultivated meat have faced growing skepticism. Lately, the media has written obituaries. And the market value is declining. Bruce Friedrich, founder and president of the Good Food Institute, offers a different view: the long view.Friedrich joined clean energy reporter David Roberts on the Volts podcast to discuss his new book, Meat: How the Next Agricultur

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