Best Wageningen Podcasts (2024)

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6. Fossil fuels in our kitchens 47:39

5h ago47:39

47:39

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…

1
5. Ultra-processed foods, plastics, transport 54:46

7d ago54:46

54:46

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 food…

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Raj Patel on fossil fuels, food, and Columbus’s wicked legacy 32:57

15d ago32:57

32:57

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 enviro…

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4. Farm machinery, precision agriculture, big data 40:01

21d ago40:01

40:01

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 agroec…

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3. Do we need fossil agrochemicals to feed the world? 48:28

15d ago48:28

48:28

Since 2020, over 120 million tonnes of nitrogen fertilizer have been produced annually—a number set to rise by 50% by 2050. It’s easy to assume this is non-negotiable, that without it, we’d face a food crisis. But do we really need all this fossil-based input? As it turns out, there are many ways we can reverse this trend - from curbing overuse and…

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2. The rise of fossil fuels in our food 43:45

1M ago43:45

43:45

How did fossil fuels become so embedded in our food systems? We trace this journey from the industrial extraction of guano, through the game-changing Haber-Bosch process, to today’s globalized food system. Along the way, we uncover the hidden impacts on biodiversity, farmworkers, and our oceans—revealing the true cost of this reliance on fossil fue…

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1. There's fossil fuels in our food?! 37:14

30d ago37:14

37:14

“For many of us, how fossil fuels are integrated across the food chain is highly invisible.” When we bite into a juicy apple, barrels of crude oil and natural gas cylinders might not spring to mind. But fossil fuels are the hidden ingredient behind all of our food. For every calorie that ends up on our plates, around 10 calories of fossil fuels are…

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Introducing Fuel to Fork 0:34

1M ago0:34

0:34

When we bite into a juicy apple, barrels of crude oil and natural gas cylinders might not spring to mind. But fossil fuels are the hidden ingredient behind all of our food. For every calorie that ends up on our plates, around 10 calories of fossil fuels are used. From the diesel powering the tractors to the fertilizer in the field and plastic packa…

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What biodiversity do you care about? 34:46

2M ago34:46

34:46

Are food systems allies or enemies in the fight to save biodiversity? With our planet facing a biodiversity crisis, the answer depends on who you ask and what forms of life we prioritize. We speak with farmers, biophysical modelers, and biologists to explore whether producing food and conserving biodiversity can be achieved at the same time. We als…

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Animal welfare and ethics (w/ Tamsin Blaxter) 49:24

3M ago49:24

49:24

How do philosophers, animal welfare scientists, and farmers differ in their understanding of what a good future for farmed animals looks like? TABLE researcher Tamsin Blaxter discusses the complex relationships between humans and non-human animals and how these connections shape our food choices. We talk about who gets to speak with authority on th…

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Valuing nature in our economies (w/ Adan Martinez Cruz) 28:46

3M ago28:46

28:46

Environmental economist Adan L. Martinez-Cruz (Senior Lecturer at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), argues that markets are a fundamental aspect of human society. He suggests that assigning a monetary value to natural resources can provide environmental benefits and create economic incentives to achieve them. In this episode, we dis…

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There is no master metric for biodiversity (with Ville Lähde) 40:23

4M ago40:23

40:23

Philosopher and environmental researcher Ville Lähde (with the Finnish BIOS Research Unit) argues that we need to understand biodiversity differently at a fundamental level in order to preserve it. Biodiversity loss is much more than the list of extinct and endangered species. In our conversation, we talk about the myriad food systems and their dif…

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Nature knows best: Naturalness in the Ultra-Processed Foods Debate 53:44

4M ago53:44

53:44

The idea that more natural food – food which hasn’t been transformed by human and industrial intervention – is best for us is a powerful one. Psychologists have found a strong preference for that which is “natural”, even when people differ in what they understand that term to mean. But naturalness is a muddle – we are often signalled by advertising…

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Presenting "Less And Better?: Ep 1: Its Complicated" 34:11

5M ago34:11

34:11

It feels like one of the biggest questions of our time: what do we do about meat? Rather than choosing either extreme – business as usual, or ruling out meat altogether – some people suggest the best approach is one of ‘less and better meat’. But how much less is ‘less’? And which meat is ‘better’? How do we even begin to answer these questions? "L…

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#5 A strategy to depolarise 35:55

5M ago35:55

35:55

In this fifth episode, Bart reflects on target group, topic, position and tone of voice. These four game changers are the bedrock of a strategy to depolarise. Inside Polarisation is a podcast series with tools and insights to help you learn how to navigate the tensions when polarisation strikes. Bart Brandsma is a philosopher, consultant and polari…

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#2 Gut Feeling & Truth 23:53

5M ago23:53

23:53

In this second episode Bart looks at the third basic law of polarisation - the irrationality in the dynamic of us versus -them thinking - gut-feeling. Inside polarisation is a podcast series with tools and insights to help you learn how to navigate the tensions when polarisation strikes. Bart Brandsma is a philosopher, consultant and polarisation e…

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#3 On pushers, joiners and the silent 27:46

5M ago27:46

27:46

In this third episode Bart examines the first three different roles in polarisation. Inside Polarisation is a podcast series with tools and insights to help you learn how to navigate the tensions when polarisation strikes. Bart Brandsma is a philosopher, consultant and polarisation expert. He has been studying this subject for two decades and has d…

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#4 The bridge builder and the scapegoat 36:56

5M ago36:56

36:56

In this fourth episode, Bart reflects on the last two roles in his polarisation framework, the bridge builder and the scapegoat. Inside Polarisation is a podcast series with tools and insights to help you learn how to navigate the tensions when polarisation strikes. Bart Brandsma is a philosopher, consultant and polarization expert. He has been stu…

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#1 How to fuel us-them thinking? 26:30

5M ago26:30

26:30

We live in a world riddled with tension, us versus them, or black versus white. One camp versus the other. The activist versus industry, man versus woman, nature versus the farmer. Inside Polarisation is a podcast series with tools and insights to help you learn how to navigate the tensions when polarisation strikes. Bart Brandsma is a philosopher,…

1
#6 What's next? 23:47

5M ago23:47

23:47

In the final episode of the series Bart reflects on what’s next for his polarisation framework. In a conversation with producer Andy Clark he explains why he is optimistic despite a fragmented and fractious world and calls for others to come together to help further understand the us and them dynamic. Inside Polarisation is a podcast series with to…

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Women Scientists from Global South on Food Security (Part 3) 25:53

5M ago25:53

25:53

500 scientists from 60 countries gathered at the 5th Global Food Security Conference in Leuven, Belgium. Instead of saying, "you had to be there," we bring you voices and reflections from the conference. Host Matthew Kessler recorded dozens of interviews, asking experts what key messages they want to deliver to those with the power to change food s…

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Economics of Food System Transformation (Part 2) 40:20

6M ago40:20

40:20

500 scientists from 60 countries gathered at the 5th Global Food Security Conference in Leuven, Belgium. Instead of saying, "you had to be there," we bring you voices and reflections from the conference. Host Matthew Kessler recorded dozens of interviews, asking experts what key messages they want to deliver to those with the power to change food s…

1
Is Global Food Security a Solvable Puzzle? (Part 1) 32:40

6M ago32:40

32:40

500 scientists from 60 countries gathered at the 5th Global Food Security Conference in Leuven, Belgium. Instead of saying, "you had to be there," we bring you voices and reflections from the conference. Host Matthew Kessler recorded dozens of interviews, asking experts what key messages they want to deliver to those with the power to change food s…

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IndiaBioscience with Dr. Karishma Kaushik | The Living Revolution 39:01

6M ago39:01

39:01

IndiaBioscience is an organisation serving as the bridge between the ivory towers of academic research, clinicians, and the wider public, It serves to take the science funded by public money and give it back to the community, whether it is through outreach programmes, mentorship schemes or getting people in the same room for fruitful discussions. E…

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Is cultivated "meat" unnatural? Is meat today natural? 36:03

7M ago36:03

36:03

While many wonder about the technological hurdles preventing cultivated meat from entering commercial markets, fewer ask a more basic question: will people actually eat it, or will they find it too unnatural? In this episode, we're joined by Cor van der Weele, emeritus professor in philosophy from Wageningen University, who has had a front-row seat…

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Does CRISPR make our food unnatural? 29:38

7M ago29:38

29:38

If more and more gene-edited foods become common on our plates, is that a sign of a promising or worrying food future? With Dr. Lauren Crossland-Marr, food anthropologist and host of the podcast A CRISPR Bite, we unpack whether it’s fair to call CRISPR a natural way of "speeding up the breeding" process, whether technological innovations such as ge…

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What's a natural diet? (with Richard Tellström) 18:43

7M ago18:43

18:43

What influences the meals we enjoy today? Meal historian and cultural researcher Richard Tellström from Stockholm University suggests that the surrounding natural environments and ecosystems only play a minimal role. Instead, he argues that our choices are primarily shaped by cultural, political and economic forces. This episode dives into the dram…

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The Wastewater Treatment Nexus: Energy, Nutrients and Water with CEO of ThinkTIM Marc Wehmeijer | The Living Revolution 39:26

7M ago39:26

39:26

Wastewater is a gold mine for energy, nutrients and water. Marc Wehmeijer dispels myths about breaking in to the wastewater industry, and takes us on a tour of the global wastewater treatment landscape from the deserts of Durango, Mexico to the Swiss Alps. Marc Wehmeijer is the CEO of ThinkTIM, a company that designs, manufactures, installs and ser…

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What's a natural diet? (with Amy Styring) 25:37

8M ago25:37

25:37

Around 6000 years ago in Northwest Europe, our ancestors transitioned from hunter-gatherer societies to sedentary farming. How did their diets change during this time? The field of archaeological sciences and chemistry teamed up to shed new light on this question. In this episode, we ask Amy Styring, archaeological chemist at the University of Oxfo…

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Can we eat enough white-tailed deer to restore forest ecosystems? 31:08

8M ago31:08

31:08

Is it possible to eat enough white-tailed deer to keep their populations low enough to restore ecosystems? We posed this question to Bernd Blossey, professor at Cornell University who specializes in the management of invasive species and the restoration of disrupted ecological relationships. In this episode, we look at the history of white-tailed d…

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Cultivating algae | Peter Mponzi with The Living Revolution 54:36

8M ago54:36

54:36

Algae is a high potential and high protein food. Learn how engineers and entrepreneurs like Peter Mponzi are using algae to cultivate the future of nutrition. Peter Mponzi is a chemical process engineer by training and current entrepreneur in algal production. He has eight plus years experience in the renewable fuel industry, and is currently focus…

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Eating invasive crayfish - a solution to our ecological mess? 21:15

8M ago21:15

21:15

Are invasive species natural? If we introduced them, do we have some responsibility to manage them? What if we could reduce their numbers through the natural process of eating? In this episode, Jackie Turner (TABLE) joins crayfish trapper Bob Ring to see if we can eat our way out of one of the environmental problems we’ve created - the spread of in…

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Grasshoppers - agricultural pest or sustainable food? 25:06

8M ago25:06

25:06

What if we shifted our perspective from seeing some animal species as a problem to seeing them as an abundant and tasty source of food? Over the next few episodes, we’ll hear three "problems" in three regions: grasshoppers as pests in Mexico, invasive crayfish in London and overpopulated white-tailed deer in the United States. With a rising trend f…

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Should food systems be more natural? 44:05

9M ago44:05

44:05

“Is a microbe less natural than a cow?” This season we ask scientists, farmers, technologists and philosophers about how natural our food systems should be. In this age where industrial technology has profoundly transformed our eating habits and the landscapes around us, we explore whether we should let nature be our ultimate guide or fully lean in…

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Sofia Wilhelmsson on pig transport and human-animal relations (rebroadcast) 31:52

9M ago31:52

31:52

Sofia Wilhelmsson researches a very specific and stressful time for farmed pigs: the loading and transport of pigs on their way to slaughter. She not only considers the welfare of the animals, but also the well-being of the pig transport drivers. In our conversation we chat about the relationships that humans have with animals; what food systems ac…

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What is rewilding? (rebroadcast) 30:26

10M ago30:26

30:26

Imagine a world where nature reclaims its place in the landscape. What would that mean for food systems? Walter Fraanje joins Feed co-hosts to talk about his new publication, "Rewilding and its implications for agriculture" co-authored with Tara Garnett. The explainer introduces the concept of rewilding, compares different rewilding strategies acro…

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Neena Prasad on the power of ultra-processed foods 41:32

11M ago41:32

41:32

People across the world are consuming more ultra-processed foods (UPFs). Will Latin American countries and elsewhere follow the path of the US and the UK, where over half of calories consumed now come from UPFs? Dr Neena Prasad, director of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Food Policy Program, joins us to talk about the power of and the power behind UPFs.…

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Jessica Duncan on COP28 and who shapes food policy 54:43

12M ago54:43

54:43

Food systems are finally getting more attention at global climate conversations. But who is at the table shaping our food futures? We caught up with Jessica Duncan, Associate Professor on the Politics of Food Systems Transformations at Wageningen University, to hear her thoughts and concerns about COP 28. Then we re-air our conversation with Jessic…

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Presenting A CRISPR Bite: Wine 23:47

1y ago23:47

23:47

Is CRISPR the solution to controlling the pest plaguing California’s wine industry? In this episode of A CRISPR Bite, we take you to a lab where researchers are using CRISPR technology to genetically modify a frightening insect called the Glassy-winged sharpshooter responsible for spreading a bacteria and killing vines. CRISPR bites is five-part po…

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Will you join the insect revolution? 27:33

1y ago27:33

27:33

There are over 2,000 types of insects that people eat across the world. Some of these species could have the potential to be cultivated at scale using less land, less water, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions while supplying a nutritious protein source to many. But what does scaling insect production look like, and will people actually eat them? In…

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Narrowing the yield gap in Sub-Saharan Africa 39:29

1y ago39:29

39:29

The yield gap refers to the difference between the potential agricultural yield that could be achieved under ideal conditions and the actual yield that farmers harvest. In sub-Saharan Africa, the yield gap is in some cases 80% meaning that farmers have the potential to double, triple or even quadruple their harvests. The causes of the yield gap are…

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Presenting M4F: Ep8. Looking back, looking forward 36:44

1y ago36:44

36:44

Presenting the Meat: the four futures series final episode. -- Over the last few months, we explored what the future of meat and livestock could look like. We’ve talked about how our values, ethics and where we live in the world can impact our desired futures for meat. And we did a deep dive into four potential futures - efficient meat, alternative…

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Modern agriculture and Synthetic biology | The Living Revolution with Wageningen iGEM 2023 36:47

1y ago36:47

36:47

Join us for a whirlwind tour of the key problems with modern agriculture and the alternative emerging technologies. In this final episode with Agata the biocontainment researcher and Simon, Head of Human Practices, from the Wageningen iGEM team, we discuss how synthetic biology can be used as a technology to prevent crop frost damage. We reflect on…

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Presenting M4F: Ep7. Health, biodiversity, animal ethics 53:57

1y ago53:57

53:57

We continue featuring the Meat: the four futures series with episode 7. -- We've heard four distinct visions for the future of meat and livestock. But realistically, won't they all play a role? As we wrap up the series in the next two episodes, we’re going to review what’s in conflict between the four futures and how parts of them might co-exist. I…

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Presenting M4F: Ep6. Plant based 1:18:31

1+ y ago1:18:31

1:18:31

We continue featuring the Meat: the four futures series with our fourth and final exploration of four different futures for meat - Plant based no meat. -- Should we remove animals from agriculture and our diets altogether? What if all the land that produces animal feed now could instead produce human food--or be rewilded? Would this be a planet fri…

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Presenting M4F: Ep5. Less meat 1:09:45

1+ y ago1:09:45

1:09:45

We continue featuring the Meat: the four futures series with our third exploration of four different futures for meat - Less meat. -- What if we had a more compassionate approach to farming animals, where we raised and ate fewer animals - and so meat cost more? We speak with farmers, researchers and campaigners who don’t see farmed animals only as …

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Biobricks, GMOs, IP and the art of DNA detection | The Living Revolution with iGEM Wageningen 2023 29:00

1+ y ago29:00

29:00

In an iGEM competition, open source interchangeable parts of genetic material (BioBricks) allow hundreds of teams of students to create synbio solutions to real world problems. Joined by captain Johannes and treasurer Niko from the 2023 Wageningen iGEM team, we discuss their challenges and ideas about creating novelty, using non-model organisms, an…

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Presenting M4F: Ep4. Alternative "meat" 56:35

1+ y ago56:35

56:35

We continue featuring the Meat: the four futures series with our second exploration of four different futures for meat - Alternative "meat". -- What do some entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, animal activists, and environmentalists have in common? They each envision a future where meat alternatives can tackle the environmental impacts and animal s…

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Preventing frost damage, joining iGEM and what it takes to make a team | Wageningen 2023 35:33

1+ y ago35:33

35:33

The Wageningen iGEM Team is developing a solution to prevent frost damage using synthetic biology. Listen to find out more about how frost damage affects farmers, markets and us as consumers, and how Wageningen plan the scientific aspects of their project. Get an insight into the dynamics of team work and the attitudes of aspiring scientists. If yo…

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Presenting M4F: Ep3. Efficient meat 53:29

1+ y ago53:29

53:29

We continue featuring the Meat: the four futures series with our first exploration of four different futures for meat - Efficient meat 2.0. -- Today we farm and eat meat at a scale not matched in human history. We raise 80 billion animals a year for food at a really low cost to the consumer. Here we look at how technology, research, and innovation …

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