Sustainable food system

Thank you.

All right, so I just want to let folks know Mr. Raj Patel is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems and a professor at the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs.

So, Raj, let's have a conversation.

I've been talking to folks who have been listening to A Rood Awakening over the last six years.

So we got a couple more here before I let you go.

Mr. Raj Patel and folks, I am speaking to Raj Patel and he is the writer of this particular article in the Financial Times entitled, Hold Philanthropists Accountable When Their Projects Fail, having a very substantive conversation.

And Suresh Patel is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems and a professor at the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs.

So let's see here.

So as you all already heard, my name is Iris.

Uh, I'm a senior scientist at ETH Zurich, and I'm working on a topic that I think everyone can actually connect to, and we work on food, and more precisely, on creating more sustainable food systems.

Um, and, uh, you know, if you talk about climate change, uh, we think that our food systems actually have a huge impact on climate change.

Around a third of the global greenhouse gas emissions are related to our agri-food systems, and yet we waste a third of the food that is produced along the entire value chain.

We talk a lot about helping farmers become more resilient and profitable, but policies like this can risk making that harder for farmers, especially for small and beginning farmers.

Next, a new report from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, or IPAS Food, reveals something deeply troubling.

Nearly 1.4 billion people work in food systems.

That's roughly two out of every five workers worldwide.

Nearly 1.4 billion people work in food systems, two in every five workers worldwide, making it the largest workforce on the planet.

A new report from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, IPS Food, finds the sector also exploits more workers than any other across farms, fishing vessels, factories, supermarkets, restaurants, and delivery platforms.

The report documents widespread low pay, wage theft, forced and child labor, discrimination, and sexual violence.

It argues the abuse is built into how food systems operate through informal and insecure work, weak enforcement of labor law, and growing corporate concentration.

Dr. Milion Bele is the General Coordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, a broad alliance of varying civil society actors that are part of the struggle for food sovereignty and agroecology in Africa.

Based in Ethiopia, he is also a member of the International Panel of Experts on the Sustainability of Food Systems.

Dr. Bele, a warm welcome to the podcast.

Thank you very much.

For more resources and episodes, visit our website and follow along as we continue exploring the people, businesses, and innovations driving the future of seafood.

The Seafood Entry Point is brought to you by Vancouver Island University through the Sustainable Food Systems for Canada Network, also known as SF4C.

This work contributes to a broader national network of universities that are working to strengthen Canada's agri-food sector through innovation, training, and collaboration.

VIU acknowledges and thanks the Snuneymuxw, Quatsino, Laa-oolth, Saanich, and Qualicum First Nation, whose traditional lands we teach, learn, research, live, and share knowledge.