Political scientist Sparsha Saha from Harvard University joins us to challenge the status quo in meat politics. How can a sector so vital be so overlooked? Sparsha shares groundbreaking insights, exposing the unusual political dynamics surrounding animal welfare and the unexpected urban-rural divide on climate policies related to meat consumption. We grapple with the low prioritization of food and water in political discourse and the urgent need for heightened awareness in tackling ecological crises.

Our conversation takes a deep dive into the path toward building inclusive strategies in the plant-based and regenerative agriculture sectors. By bridging gaps across ethical and expertise boundaries, we uncover how collaboration can drive meaningful social progress. Sparsha and I discuss the public's yearning for genuine moral leadership on critical issues like food and water, and consider how emerging leaders, particularly younger ones, could resonate with people's fundamental needs. Furthermore, we examine how cultural expressions, especially music, can capture our deep-rooted connection to the land.

We turn the spotlight on the pressing challenges and potential solutions within the global food systems. Recent crises, from food shortages to geopolitical tensions like the Ukraine war, have emphasized the vulnerability of these systems. Sustainable practices such as regenerative agriculture and mindful water usage in farming are more essential than ever. We also introduce the "eat less but better" concept, advocating for reduced animal product consumption to enhance biodiversity and sustainability. Sparsha and I underscore the socio-economic struggles faced by vulnerable communities dependent on unsustainable food systems, urging systemic policy changes to foster security and equity.

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The least productive 10-20% of producers are causing 60-80% of the environmental impacts but only produce 5% of the food. Incentivizing these farmers and ranchers to change can significantly improve the sustainability of our food systems with minimum impact on global food production.

Today I am joined by Jason Clay from WWF who focuses on working with the private sector to improve supply chain management especially addressing habitat, biodiversity, soil health, irrigation, effluent, and green house gases. Jason leads the Markets Institute to improve sustainability in internationally traded food and soft commodities, known as Codex Planetarius.

We need to move away from looking at averages. With the largest 10 commodites we are finding there are three to five production systems globally and the difference between the most damaging decile and most sustainable decile is 10x. Between any two of the 5 production systems it can be 50 or 100x. Huge reduction in the environmental footprint of these systems can be achieved by addressing the bottom.

The culture of eating animal protein is engrained in millions of years of evolution. With over 400 million Chinese people raised from poverty this century and a further 1 billion Indians being taken out of poverty the increased demand for animal proteins is not going to disappear.

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The 350 million hectares of global irrigation consume 3-4 Mississippi’s worth of fresh water every day. This volume of fresh water used for Irrigation is continuing to increase, especially across the global south, exacerbating the challenge of how we produce more food with less water. Today we are joined by Bruce Lankford, who has been working on Water and Irrigation Policy across the developed and developing worlds for over 30 years.

In a recent blog post Bruce wrote about how Irrigation is colonising water and is being colonised; on research and teaching gaps in irrigation. He concluded that because many consultants, analysts, researchers, research projects, funders and decision-makers are not fully interrogating irrigation as a complex system, irrigation is colonising freshwater, and it is being technically, conceptually and financially colonised.

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