How do we feed more people with the food we already grow?
In 2022, 1 billion meals a day were wasted, while 783 million people were affected by hunger. There’s plenty of food to go around – it’s just not getting to those who need it.
In this episode, we explore three powerful and distinct approaches to transforming our global food systems. Tune in to hear about blending traditional knowledge with modern innovation, using science to breed more resource-efficient crops and turning food waste into valuable resources.
Find out more: How do we feed more people with the food we already grow? - Episode 90
Transcript
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::This is Farms. Food. Future. – a podcast that’s Good for You, Good for the Planet, and Good for Farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
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::Welcome to episode 90. I'm Brian Thompson.
::And co-presenting this edition, I'm Michelle Tang.
::Today we bring you 3 very different approaches to the same fundamental change: how do we create food systems that actually work for everyone?
::We'll explore how innovation can turn waste into opportunity, quite literally transforming what we throw away into what we eat.
::We'll see how traditional knowledge and modern challenges can work together, creating solutions that benefit entire communities, not just individual farmers.
::And will discover how science can serve sustainability, developing crops that do more with less while becoming more resilient to climate change.
::But here's what strikes me most about these conversations:
none of them are talking about silver bullets. They're talking about systems complex, interconnected ways of thinking about food that consider everything from soil health to gender equality, from supply chains to cultural identity.
::Small shifts, big impacts. That's what all of our guests seem to understand rather well.
::So, here's my question for you:
What would it look like if we approached our own food choices with that same systems thinking not just asking “what should I have for dinner”, but “where did this come from, who grew it, and what impact does my choice have?”
::And as always, we want to hear from you. What you think about our stories and who you want us to be talking to. So please get in touch with us at podcast@ifad.org.
::You can also subscribe to this podcast via your favourite podcast platform and please don't forget to rate us.
::Coming up, we speak to Amanda Oenbring, CEO of Upcycled Food Association, about turning food waste into innovative products that could help feed the world.
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::You're listening to farms, food future with me, Brian Thompson and Michelle Tang.
Here's a number that will make you pause over your coffee.
In: ::That's a shocking figure.
::But what if we told you there's a woman in Denver who's turning that problem on its head?
::Meet Amanda Oenbring, CEO of the Upcycled Food Association.
::She's not just talking about reducing waste. She's championing something called upcycling.
::Their products come in all different shapes and sizes.
::We're talking crisps, or chips for our American listeners, made from the pulp leftover from juice manufacturing, pet treats from unloved fruits and veg, like those wonky carrots supermarkets reject.
::They even ferment the sugars from leftover pastries and use it to make vodka.
::Now this is something I can get behind. It's brilliant actually.
::Yeah, absolutely.
Amanda has an NBA in sustainable systems and previously worked at 1% for the planet. That's an organisation where businesses pledged to donate 1% of their annual sales to environmental causes.
::There she helped expand their membership internationally, so she knows a thing or two about turning big ideas into bigger movements.
::Because here's the thing, maybe the answer isn't, growing more food, maybe it's getting clever about what we've already got.
::Our reporter Hector Clark spoke to Amanda.
::Welcome to the podcast Amanda.
::Thanks so much for having me, it's great to be here today.
::In today's episode, we're talking about food waste. Could you tell us how reducing food waste coincides with UFA's mission?
::So we all know the scope of this massive global problem globally in terms of the food we produce, 30 to 40% of that food goes to waste and doesn't end up in forms of consumption. So that is really what we're all about at the Upcycled Food Association, we are a global membership-based trade association really looking to unleash innovation to stop waste, and we do that by supporting our membership that works globally across the supply chain to help unlock the innovation that is upcycling. So really making sure that the food we produced is being put to its highest and best use.
::Could we hone in on the term you just used? Upcycling.
How do you define upcycled food? and how is it different from food waste prevention efforts like redistribution or composting?
:: n just over five years ago in:And we aligned on the definition that was really true to three pillars. So, upcycling foods, using ingredients that otherwise would not have gone to human consumption, are procured and produced using verifiable supply chains and have a positive impact on the environment.
of our work and the close of: ::So, what are some of the most exciting innovations in upcycled food right now?
::Yeah, I think it's really amazing to look at our Members that are working across so many different intervention points from the R&D and innovation efforts to what is the new, you know, infrastructure and actual equipment that is able to capture and stabilise these side streams or by-products, to a lot of companies that are either, you know, forming their business around the concept of upcycling or looking at what are the, you know really small percentage changes that I can be substituting in current formulations that can have a really big impact. So, I think there's a wide opportunity in terms of what are the foods of the future that through upcycling we're being able to help create now, so when you think of bean free coffee or cocoa free chocolate, these staples that we love globally that are under increasing supply chain pressure, what can we be doing now to help create that substitute before the point where we are going to have to need that in our future. So that's something that I really I'm excited to see and celebrate. And then in terms of the food science, there's a lot of work and I feel like especially younger generations and a lot of excitement and appetite for where is the future of food science in terms of upcycling. How can we be integrating fermentation, how can we be integrating, you know, capture methods like dehydration, food drying, those kind of methods to make sure we have stable consistent supply?
::Are there barriers for small scale producers to engage in upcycling and how can they be overcome?
::You know, this is definitely part of the challenge and opportunity, especially for, you know, younger businesses that are so eager and excited and see the opportunity that is fast in this space of not feeling like they're in it and learning and navigating alone. So that is really, you know an area where we try to bring together stakeholders of various points in their upcycled journey and various points of expertise to be sharing that knowledge. So really that is something we strive to do through membership and upcycled food association and that a lot of companies you know are figuring out how can it be accessed you know, consistent stream that you know might have seasonality involved or might have you know consistency and quality, making sure those are up to the highest standards. So, really learning from each other and making sure that there is a lot of shared knowledge and resources available there to make sure that we are doing more together. Then we came along.
::OK. Thank you so much for your time, Amanda. Thank you.
::Really appreciate it. Thanks for the conversation. If you're curious to learn more about the wide world of upcycled food, invite you to visit our website upcycledfood.org where we have resources, knowledge sharing for anybody as well as membership be it individual student, academic or company membership. There's a seat for you within our community.
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::Thank you, Amanda and Hector, don't forget to check out their website upcycledfood.org to find out more.
::From boardrooms in Denver to the rolling hills of southern Zambia, quite a journey. But stick with us because this next story is rather special.
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::You're listening to episode 90 of farms food future with me, Michelle Tang and Brian Thompson.
::Gwen Jones didn't set out to revolutionise farming.
She and her sister simply wanted to help their relatives back home earn a bit more from their land.
::What started as encouraging a few family members to keep bees alongside their maize crops has grown into something much bigger than that the Nzatu Food Group.
::Here's what caught my attention: where traditional maize farming might earn a farmer 20 US cents per kilogramme, Gwen's beekeeping approach brings in 3 dollars per kilogramme – and they get two harvests a year instead of one. But this isn't just about the money, though that matters enormously when you're talking about rural communities.
::Gwen's work touches on how food connects to everything else. She's helping young girls avoid child marriages by giving them economic opportunities.
::And working with communities living alongside national parks to reduce poaching.
:: p have been nominated for the: ::Let's hear more about these solutions from Gwen joining us from Zambia.
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::Welcome Gwen Jones to the podcast. Thanks for your time. We're excited to have you here today.
::And thank you, Hector. I'm delighted to be here, really honoured to be part of this forum. Thank you for having us.
::Could you tell us the story of in Nzatu and what inspired its creation?
::My sister and I started Nzatu in a very informal manner. We come from a rural community. We were born in rural southern Zambia and we grew up alongside small scale farmers and we became very much connected to the way food was produced in the rural setting. It became a way of life and as we got older, we became more involved helping farmers to realise higher incomes and when we started the work, it was really helping our relatives to start keeping bees in order to raise their income and more like how could they earn more income by doing the same type of work. So, in the Zambia, where we come from maize, which is known as corn in the rest of the world, is the staple diet and farmers would monocrop maize and realise very little income. Maize on average would realise 20 US cents per kg, so we encouraged our relatives to start keeping bees where they would realise $3 per KG. And with beekeeping, they would get 2 harvests a year, compared to 1 harvest with maize. And of course this was rain dependent, so in some cases they would have no income at all because of failure of their harvest. So this spread because the farmers in our groups became more prosperous and they were able to produce. The higher income they got, they were able to get better inputs for their agriculture. So it was a win win situation for our farmers.
::How is Nzatu striving to build resilience for smallholder farms?
::Our activities focus on supporting climate smart agriculture through training regenerative methods that include beekeeping, agroforestry and intercropping with indigenous grains as well as Wildlife conservation education.
::What are would you say some of Nzatu’s key successes over the years? Maybe you could tell us a story of something that you're particularly proud of?
::On one occasion we introduced cow peas to a group of farmers and we were really testing it because cowpeas had never been grown in that area and it was very heartwarming to see that in the following harvest, which had been a drought year, the farmers that were part of our programme with the only children that would go to school with school lunch and it was really encouraging to see the impact. It was such a direct impact. It was not a measurement of soil health. It was not a measurement of what was in their wallet, but it was more impactful to see that the children had nutrition in their school lunches and there was really touching and it really impacted us because we were able to also extend that education into the school programme.
::What goals do you have for Nzatu over the next few years?
::What we've done, Hector, is we have an in Njuki coffee project with our partners, Urban Afrique and Art Cafe. We are able to link the entire value chain with our joint venture partners in Njuki Coffee is a responsible coffee programme that links the producers to Art Cafe, which is our roaster in Italy and Urban Afrique, which is our logistics partner for the fulfilment, for the US market, by having this extended value chain, we're able to really provide secured markets to the farmers. It's not enough to just create sustainability on the ground, but we have extended that further by creating a sustainable value chain with the fulfilment with our two partners.
::Thank you so much. Gwen, would you like to add anything else?
::Education and gender equality is very important to us. And we're helping to abate the child marriage situation by extending the training and the beekeeping training to girls that are able to become part of our chain so that they can have an income and in so doing, be able to escape the child marriage cycle. So, this is where we find that it's very, very important in one of the regions where we've worked before, we were able to repatriate the girls back to the families and help them to continue their school education and in some cases the girls were back in school with their babies. So that kind of impact is extremely important for us. Poverty, as you can see, is based on economics. And if we can help to uplift farmers, we will be able to reduce poverty and inequality, in particular in the gender equality area, so that is particularly important to us. Another aspect where we find our work very rewarding is on Wildlife Conservation a lot of the communities we work in, their farms are adjacent to national parks, and these wildlife sanctuaries are subjected to a lot of poaching activities.
Again, poaching is derived from a poverty issue by creating economic opportunities for our farmers, we help to abate that. But within Nzatu, we not only train in on soil health and increased incomes, we also bring in the world that conservation aspect so that our farmers can live in harmony with their the wildlife in their areas and another thing that we're really looking towards is helping to on water usage with coffee. Coffee uses very high volumes of water and at large we have very inefficient coffee washing systems and our training is highly focused on reducing water usage through improved wash equipment and standards. So we are really open to see how we can improve that.
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::Thank you, Gwen and Hector, you can visit nzatu.com spelled NZATU.com For more information.
::And don't forget to check out also our latest episodes in episode 87. We continue with our series life stories featuring personal journeys from those shaping the future of farming, this time in Bangladesh and Colombia.
::Then in episode 88, we talked about slow food and steady change with recipes for change. Chef Anna Villota and IFAD Goodwill Ambassador Sabrina Elba.
::And in episode 89, we celebrated Youth Day featuring young people who are shaking things up with big ideas and global teamwork. So far in this episode, we've heard about how reducing waste and rethinking local economies can help build better food systems. But there's an essential piece tying it all together. Who actually controls the land?
::Because without secure land farmers cannot invest in long term solutions, not in irrigation, not in seeds, and not even in their own soil. And that's where the International Land Coalition comes in.
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::You’re listening to Farms. Food. Future. with me Michelle Tang and Brian Thomson. The International Land Coalition, or ILC, is a global alliance made up of more than 300 organizations across 78 countries working to make land governance people centred.
::That means putting land rights in the hands of the women, men, and Indigenous communities who actually live on and depend on the land – rather than governments or corporations calling the shots from far away.
::And the numbers speak for themselves. According to ILC, over 2 and a half billion people worldwide depend on small-scale farming, yet many of them don’t have secure or legally recognized rights to the land they farm.
::Which leaves them vulnerable to land grabs, forced eviction and poverty, and also limits their ability to adapt to climate change.
::Our reporter, Rosie Gonzalez, spoke to Marcy Vigoda, director of ILC about why land rights are so fundamental to food security and how stronger land governance is key to both climate resilience and equity.
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::Welcome, Marcy, and thank you for joining us today.
::Thank you, Rosa.
::So, why are land rights so fundamental to food security and how does ILC, the International Land Coalition see this connection between land governance and people’s ability to feed themselves and their communities?
::Let me say a brief word about the International Land Coalition, because this year we're celebrating 30 years as a coalition, always working for land rights. And we've been hosted here at IFAD for all of that time. We were originally known as the Popular Coalition to Eradicate Hunger and Poverty. And so that link with food and food systems has always been really strong. We work with our over 300 members in more than 90 countries to strengthen people-centred land governance. And I'd actually like to start with the quotation, because I think it really provides the answer to the question you've asked. And this is a quote from Mike Albertus, who just published a book in January called ‘Land Power’. And towards the end of the book, he writes ‘how societies use their land, and who owns that land determines how people live, who flourishes, who falters, and who has a say in what happens next’. So, land rights are foundational for sustainable and resilient food systems, because when people have secure land, they're more likely to invest in sustainable land use practices to diversify crops, and they can produce more food. And the data supports all of this.
You're probably familiar with the statistic that smallholder farmers, so I'm talking about those who have holdings up to two hectares grow one third of the world's food supply. And they do that with about a quarter of the land. So, they are extremely productive and in fact more productive per unit of land than larger farms. But 1 in 3 people across the world lack legally recognized rights to the land they depend on. And I'm talking about smallholders and pastoralists and indigenous peoples. And this is where the problem lies. Without tenure security, smallholders and family farmers face uncertainty and risk, and many rural people are therefore caught in a cycle. Without secure land, they can't access credit, they can't invest in tools or seeds or achieve food security, and that undermines food production and resilience. The experience of our members and the data show that investing in land rights, achieving tenure security is a high impact way to advance food security, as well as other co-benefits: Climate resilience. Biodiversity. Social justice.
::And when it comes to producing and accessing food, what are some of the biggest land-related challenges facing rural communities today?
::You know, when global reports come out, I immediately do a search for references to land, to land rights, to land tenure, and they're nearly always absent. So, I think giving more attention to the issue and how it can contribute, how it is a solution to the global challenges we face is key. ILC and Oxfam put out the Uneven Ground report and it shows that land inequality is rising. Specifically, just 1% of farms operate 70% of the world's farmland, and smallholders are being squeezed out. Another element is land degradation and climate change. These are making fertile land scarcer, and communities often lack legal protection against land grabs. We track large scale land acquisitions or land grabs through the Land Matrix initiative, LMI, and communities are telling us that there is now an upswing again in land grabs, in part fuelled by the energy transition and the growing demand for rare earth minerals. And conflict, of course, here is a factor, a cause and a consequence as well. Another challenge is that women and youth still face systemic barriers to own or inherit land, and that limits their role in food production. And then we are missing opportunities through women's land rights to strengthen food security and improve nutrition. The data here say that when women have equal land rights, child malnutrition can drop by up to 33% and food security improves.
::And could you share an example of a country or community where stronger land rights have made a real difference?
:: care of rangelands. And since:[MUSIC]
::Thank you, Marcy and Rosa. You can find out more about the International Land Coalition by going to www.landcoalition.org.
::Land rights laid the groundwork, quite literally, for everything else, but access alone is not enough.
::As climate pressures intensify, farmers also need tools that help them adapt, especially when it comes to staple crops and few crops carry more weight than rice.
::Up now we hear from Dr. Juahar Ali from the International Rice Research Institute.
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::You’re listening to Farms. Food. Future. with me Brian Thomson, and Michelle Tang. Now then, let's talk about rice. This might sound like a simple grain, but it's actually at the heart of one of the most fascinating challenges in food science today.
Rice feeds half the world's population. HALF!
::And for millions of smallholder farmers across Asia and beyond, it is not just a crop, it's survival.
::But here's the challenge: how do you feed more people with less land, less water, and a climate that's becoming increasingly unpredictable?
::That's where Dr. Ali from the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines comes in. He's working on something called hybrid rice – varieties that can produce 30 per cent higher yields using the same inputs as traditional rice.
::Same water, same fertiliser, same labour, but significantly more food.
::Now, I know what some of you might be thinking – this sounds like the sort of high-tech solution that benefits big agribusiness whilst leaving small farmers behind. But Dr. Ali's approach is different.
::Yeah, he's focused on creating varieties that are drought tolerant, flood resistant and can grow in salt affected coastal areas.
::These aren't just higher-yielding crops – they're more resilient ones. The question, of course, is whether these innovations actually reach the farmers who need them most.
::And that's exactly what we spoke to him about.
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::Welcome to the podcast. Would you like to quickly introduce yourself?
::Yeah, I'm Doctor Juahar Ali. I'll lead the hybrid rice breeding programme.
::Can you explain the unique characteristics of the international rights research institute’s hybrid rice? How does it differ from traditional rice varieties?
::The hybrid rice, basically how it is different from an inbred programme genetically that differ the F1 that is resulting from that output is aquatic in nature. That means it gives higher grain yield. The challenge is not the hybrid itself. Hybrid is really good, but the question is how do you produce the seed economically? So, Rice being a self-coordinated crop. It can produce its own seed, but even in a variety programs one needs to understand that every third year or fourth year you need to replace certified seed. Just like in hybrids you need to do it every season and the additional benefit that comes from the hybrid is the enormous yield that it brings with. So, that's what makes hybrid technology very effective for any country. That is as simple as an A layman's language.
::How does hybrid rice contribute to sustainable farming practises? What role does it play in addressing challenges like ecosystem health and nutrition?
::Many people think hybrid technology is something not sustainable in that sense, but the key element here is you are going to give the same input as of inbred. You're going to give the same fertiliser, same water, same management practises and you're getting 30% more. Number one, you are saving on land, you are saving on the irrigation water, you are saving on the labour. You need to produce from the limited land that one has and to produce more vertically. The other very important thing on the hybrid is the low carbon footprint. If you grow hybrids because of their earliness, there are hybrids now we produce early duration hybrids and the reels are more than 10 tonnes. The main thing that we are talking here is the higher yields and reduce duration means the per unit productivity is enormous compared to inbreds, and that makes low carbon footprint a very highly sustainable option. For farmers or those countries who have limited land and resources.
::What advantages does hybrid rice offer to smallholder farmers, particularly in terms of yield, resilience and income generation?
::See the hybrid technology is a proven technology. It's not like it is being cultivated almost in 15 to 16,000,000 hectares in China. In the future, the countries have to adapt to hybrid technology because, right, you cannot expand your area, so you can't expand horizontally, but you can go vertically, and only hindrance is the seed cost. If we can bring down the seat cost and make it cheaper, and that is where even the low income poor farmers can adopt it. The most important part of this two line hybrid is number one, the yield goes very high and the second big major thing is that the head to wise recovery of the two line hybrid is more than 60%. When you said farmers income to be sustained, this is the best way to sustain in terms of 5% more income in terms of the breakage itself. The second thing is that the grain quality has improved a lot. This is the best answer for salt affected areas. Because in salt affected areas you cannot grow other than rice. So this is a solution for those coastal areas. So this is where we can bring the concept of climate resilient rice. That exceeded rise, hybrids, flooding tolerant hybrids, drought tolerant, salty tolerant, even multiple stress tolerant hybrids even.
::What are your hopes for the future of hybrid?
::In the face of climate change, you have no options left with you other than hybrid technology, where hybrids are low carbon footprint is very clearly evidenced. So, these things would change the game and in the future these are the things that would rule the world and this will be the most potential answer for the hybrid technology itself, and with that in mind, the future of hybrid is getting brighter because there is no other technology that can match that.
::OK. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time.
::Oh, sure, you're welcome.
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::Thank you, Doctor Johar, and Hector. You can visit the International Rice Research Institute's website, www.irri.org to find out more.
::And that brings us to the end of this episode. Until next time, keep questioning, keep listening, and keep eating thoughtfully.
Thanks as always to our producers and editor here in Rome, Rosa Gonzalez, Francesco Manetti, Francesca Primavilla and to our reporter Hector Clack.
::But most of all, thanks to you for listening to this episode of Farms Food feature brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
::We’ll be back in two weeks to spotlight the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly, exploring how global policy decisions shape local food systems.
::And on the fourth Monday in September, to mark World Mental Health Day, we'll explore the connection between mental health and farming – from climate anxiety to healing through agroecology and traditional practices.
::This is Farms. Food. Future. a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet, and good for farmers brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development. You can find out more about all of our stories at www.ifad.org/podcasts. Remember, we want to hear from you, what you think about our stories and who you want us to be talking to? So please get in touch at podcast at ifad.org.
Send us your voice or text messages to this address and we'll be happy to play you out in the next show. Also, don't forget to subscribe to this podcast via your favourite podcast platform, and please rate us and once again we'll be trying to be good for you, good for the planet, and good for the farmers. Until then from me, Brian Thomson and the team here at IFAD. Thanks for listening.
