News
24 October 2024
Fuel to Fork: a podcast exposing the fossil fuels in our food
Climate & Biodiversity
This page is automatically translated from the English original using DeepL and may contain errors.
Our food system has a hidden ingredient: fossil fuels.
A major podcast series, brought together by IPES-Food, TABLE, and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, exposes the hidden role of fossil fuels in the food we eat.
When you 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.
Fossil fuels: the lifeblood of the food industry
For every calorie that ends up on our plates, around 10 calories of fossil fuels are used. In Fuel to Fork we expose and explore the fossil fuels in our food – speaking to farmers, chefs, food industry experts, scientists and campaigners.
Across 7 episodes released every week, we delve deep into our dependence on fossil fuels at every step of the food supply chain.
Along the way, we reveal some alarming trends. Food consumes 15% of global fossil fuels and this share is increasing. As other sectors are rapidly decarbonising, the fossil fuel industry is looking to food as its “escape hatch”, targeting growth in petrochemicals for fertiliser, pesticides and plastic.
What are the options to phase out fossil fuels in food?
And what are the powerful forces standing in the way?
To find out, subscribe to Fuel to Fork.
Featuring renowned experts such as legendary campaigner Anna Lappé, Nigerian environmentalist, Nnimmo Bassey, and IPES-Food experts Raj Patel, Jennifer Clapp, Errol Schweizer, Mamadou Goita, Pat Mooney, and Georgina Catacora-Vargas .
If we want to tackle climate change, we can’t leave the fossil fuels in our food off the plate.
Episode 1: There’s fossil fuels in our food?!
From the diesel powering the tractors, to the fertilizer in the field, to the plastic packaging, how fossil fuels are the lifeblood of the food industry.
Episode 2: The rise of fossil fuels in our food
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.
Episode 3: Do we need fossil agrochemicals to feed the world?
Over 120 million tonnes of nitrogen fertilizer are produced every year—a number set to rise by 50% by 2050. But do we really need all this fossil-based input? This episode explores a range of options to phase out our dependency on fossil fuelled agrochemicals.
Episode 4: Farm machinery, precision agriculture, & big data
Fossil fuels are woven into nearly every aspect of modern agriculture – from powering farm machinery to plastics on the farm, and supporting data-driven tech like precision agriculture. But what would it take to reduce, replace or even eliminate their use on farms?
Episode 5: Ultra-processed foods, plastics, & transport
Processing and packaging consumes the largest share of fossil fuels in our food system – over 40% – more even than food production. Our growing reliance on ultra-processed foods and plastics across the supply chain is making food production more energy-intensive than ever before.
Episode 6: Fossil fuels in our kitchens
Our series reaches the final stage in the food chain — our kitchens. Where fossil fuels are hiding in plain sight — powering stoves and cooling refrigerators. They profoundly shape how we cook, prepare and eat our food. Chefs, researchers, and activist explore how to reduce reliance on fossil fuels in home and commercial kitchens from the United States to Malawi. Plus what would it take to transform the energy grid powering our food systems?
Episode 7: Transitioning to fossil free food
In our seventh and final episode, we shift from acknowledging the fossil fuel problem in food – to exploring actionable solutions and pathways forward. What does a food system free of fossil fuels look like by 2050? What insights surprised the experts featured in this series? And what trade-offs must we navigate to shape this future?
BONUS EPISODE: Raj Patel on fossil fuels, food, and Columbus’s wicked legacy
In this extended interview, IPES-Food’s Raj Patel delves into the hidden financial, health, and environmental costs of our current food system and its deep reliance on fossil fuels. Plus Christopher Columbus’s ‘wicked’ legacy, middle-class environmentalism, the care economy, and what a food system free of fossil fuels could look like.
BONUS EPISODE LIVE from the Oxford Real Farming Conference: Is a fossil fuel free food system possible?
Recorded LIVE from the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC). Farmer Helen Browning, economist Rupert Simons and agricultural biodiversity expert and IPES-Food panel member Emile Frison – and a room full of ORFC farmers and participants – explore the challenges, opportunities and trade-offs on the critical question of transitioning to a fossil free food system.
BONUS EPISODE: From horses to AI: Jennifer Clapp on how fossil fuels shaped agriculture
In this extended interview, our Jennifer Clapp explores the deep ties between fossil fuels and our food system, tracing 200 years of transformation – from the first tractors, to synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and today’s digital agriculture frontier. She unpacks how fossil-fueled inputs have shaped – and continue to shape – Big Ag and modern farming.
Fuel to Fork is a collaboration between:
Other news
Food Security
Governance & Policy
Corporate Power
Equity & Health Corporate Power Corporate Power Equity & Health Governance & Policy Corporate Power Corporate Power Food Security Food Security
