Episode 4. Farm machinery, precision agriculture, big data
Episode Summary
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 agroecology, exploring the obstacles and limitations of scaling different solutions.
About the Experts
Darrin Qualman is Director of Climate Crisis Policy and Action with the National Farmers Union in Canada. He is a long-term thinker, a civilizational critic, a researcher and data analyst, and an avid observer of the big picture. He is the author of Civilization Critical: Energy, Food, Nature and the Future.
Pat Mooney is co-founder and former director of ETC Group, a member of the IPES-Food panel, an IFOAM Ambassador (International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements), and is chair of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).
Jennifer Clapp is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability and Professor in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Dr. Clapp is currently a member of IPES-Food and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub.
Swati Renduchintala is currently an Associate Scientist with World Agroforestry (CIFOR – ICRAF) and has been working with the Andhra Pradesh Community-managed Natural farming programme for the last 5 years. Swati is liaisoning with governments and partner organizations and other entities in India and internationally working towards agroecological transformation.
References and Recommended Resources
News article: Why are farmers protesting in Europe, what are governments doing? (Reuters, 2024)
Forthcoming Book: Titans of Industrial Agriculture: How a Few Giant Corporations Came to Dominate the Farm Sector and Why It Matters (Jennifer Clapp, 2025)
News article: Can agriculture kick its plastic addiction? (Civil Eats, 2023)
Report: Power shift - why we need to wean industrial food systems off fossil fuels (Global Alliance for the Future of Food, 2023)
Blog: Agroecology in Andhra Pradesh, India: Unveiling Hidden Costs and Benefits through True Cost Accounting (Global Alliance for the Future of Food, 2023)
Report: Reduction in annual fuel use from conservation tillage (USDA, 2022)
Book: Civilization Critical: Energy, Food, Nature and the Future (Darrin Qualman, 2019)
Book: Omnivore's Dilemma (Michael Pollan, 2007)
Fuel to Fork is a collaboration between TABLE, IPES-Food, and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food. Logo and branding by The Ethical Agency.
