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Ash Sweeting

ASH CLOUD

A Earth Sciences , Science and Society & Culture podcast

#27 in Earth Sciences · 🇦🇺 #33 in Earth Sciences · 🇳🇿
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About the show

This is series of conversations discussing global food sustainability with guests who bring a deep understanding of the environmental and cultural challenges facing our society and creative ideas on how to address them.

Newest episodes

The geopolitics of climate change with Arthur Snell, RUSI

54 min

We are living in a time of greater geopolitical disorder, and that disorder is “coupled with and feeding off” climate change. During the green revolution following WW2 agricultural productivity grew steadily. In the last couple of decades, that has no longer been the case. Farmers across Europe and North America have just come through another year of extreme heat and drought. Meanwhile, the trade systems that move food around the world are being strained by conflict, tariffs, and the weaponization of trade routes. Today I am joined by Arthur Snell, a former British diplomat who spent two decades in the Foreign Office. He served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, led the UK’s global programs countering violent extremism, and was High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago. He is now an Associate Fellow at RUSI and a geopolitical consultant, writer and podcast host. He is also the author of Elemental: The New Geography of Climate Change and How We Survive It. Food has always been traded globally, from Egyptian wheat feeding Rome to today’s commodity markets. Arthur argues the lesson from history is that “functional and relatively free-flowing world trade is absolutely crucial to a functional food system.” When barriers and dysfunction are introduced, whether through tariffs, geopolitics, climate shocks or war, food systems can break down. The impacts are felt most keenly where resilience is lowest. In Egypt, for example, subsidized bread is a key element of social stability. Climate change is also redrawing the map. In the Sahel, the Sahara is advancing. In Russia’s sparsely populated far east, Chinese workers are moving north to expand agribusiness on land that was once too cold to farm. Coastlines are eroding, and Pacific atoll nations face losing theirs entirely. At the same time, long-standing norms around borders and territorial sovereignty are weakening, from Ukraine to Greenland. We also discuss asymmetric warfare. Cheap drones, together with a wil...

We don’t need a perfect answer. We need a reliable answer with Tom Sturgess, Methane Mitigation Ventures

49 min

Consumers will pay a premium for climate-friendly red meat, but not the way you’re thinking about it. This premium is not a mark-up on any single purchase. It’s customer loyalty to the retailer selling the product. A brand with integrity keeps customers coming back, and the retailer, the real customer, captures that lifetime value. Today I am joined by Tom Sturgess, who has been involved in red meat production since 1985. Thirty years ago he moved to New Zealand and taught himself sheep and beef farming. Today his farms produce around 70,000 tope quality lambs a year that earns a 40 to 50% market premium. Tom has also spent over a decade investing in to reduce the carbon footprint of livestock production includeing funding a team developing a low cost feed additive with a target price of 1.5 to 3 cents per animal per day. Tom acknowledges that ruminant maths is challenging. That said, he also agues that research system is too often its own worst enemy. The combiantion of the cost and need to conduct many large in vivo trials is crippling to many innovtaors. Rapid, small-scale animal trials that give a reliable, roughly 80% answer, are needed so researchers can learn and iterate before committing to expensive formal studies.  Tom sees the California dairy industry as the standout success story. The combaination of  legislation and state funding behind them have enable California dairy farmers to cut emissions by close to 50% in around seven years. He also praises Australia as offering the most supportive research and regulatory pathway he has experiinced. We discuss when innovations are ready for venture capital, and why funders need to monitor closely rather than impose rigid milestones. Tom also explains why genetics, feed, forage and husbandry solutions will stack together, and why, in the end, it all comes down to people and teams. Send us Fan Mail

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All episodes

The geopolitics of climate change with Arthur Snell, RUSI

54 min

We are living in a time of greater geopolitical disorder, and that disorder is “coupled with and feeding off” climate change. During the green revolution following WW2 agricultural productivity grew steadily. In the last couple of decades, that has no longer been the case. Farmers across Europe and North America have just come through another year of extreme heat and drought. Meanwhile, the trade systems that move food around the world are being strained by conflict, tariffs, and the weaponization of trade routes. Today I am joined by Arthur Snell, a former British diplomat who spent two decades in the Foreign Office. He served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, led the UK’s global programs countering violent extremism, and was High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago. He is now an Associate Fellow at RUSI and a geopolitical consultant, writer and podcast host. He is also the author of Elemental: The New Geography of Climate Change and How We Survive It. Food has always been traded globally, from Egyptian wheat feeding Rome to today’s commodity markets. Arthur argues the lesson from history is that “functional and relatively free-flowing world trade is absolutely crucial to a functional food system.” When barriers and dysfunction are introduced, whether through tariffs, geopolitics, climate shocks or war, food systems can break down. The impacts are felt most keenly where resilience is lowest. In Egypt, for example, subsidized bread is a key element of social stability. Climate change is also redrawing the map. In the Sahel, the Sahara is advancing. In Russia’s sparsely populated far east, Chinese workers are moving north to expand agribusiness on land that was once too cold to farm. Coastlines are eroding, and Pacific atoll nations face losing theirs entirely. At the same time, long-standing norms around borders and territorial sovereignty are weakening, from Ukraine to Greenland. We also discuss asymmetric warfare. Cheap drones, together with a wil...

We don’t need a perfect answer. We need a reliable answer with Tom Sturgess, Methane Mitigation Ventures

49 min

Consumers will pay a premium for climate-friendly red meat, but not the way you’re thinking about it. This premium is not a mark-up on any single purchase. It’s customer loyalty to the retailer selling the product. A brand with integrity keeps customers coming back, and the retailer, the real customer, captures that lifetime value. Today I am joined by Tom Sturgess, who has been involved in red meat production since 1985. Thirty years ago he moved to New Zealand and taught himself sheep and beef farming. Today his farms produce around 70,000 tope quality lambs a year that earns a 40 to 50% market premium. Tom has also spent over a decade investing in to reduce the carbon footprint of livestock production includeing funding a team developing a low cost feed additive with a target price of 1.5 to 3 cents per animal per day. Tom acknowledges that ruminant maths is challenging. That said, he also agues that research system is too often its own worst enemy. The combiantion of the cost and need to conduct many large in vivo trials is crippling to many innovtaors. Rapid, small-scale animal trials that give a reliable, roughly 80% answer, are needed so researchers can learn and iterate before committing to expensive formal studies.  Tom sees the California dairy industry as the standout success story. The combaination of  legislation and state funding behind them have enable California dairy farmers to cut emissions by close to 50% in around seven years. He also praises Australia as offering the most supportive research and regulatory pathway he has experiinced. We discuss when innovations are ready for venture capital, and why funders need to monitor closely rather than impose rigid milestones. Tom also explains why genetics, feed, forage and husbandry solutions will stack together, and why, in the end, it all comes down to people and teams. Send us Fan Mail

Profitable climate solutions for small holder farmers with Devdut Dalal Mitti Labs

48 min

Rice feeds more people than any other crop, and it is grown in a way that is quietly expensive. Globally, a third of all groundwater extraction goes to rice farming. And because those fields sit flooded for weeks at a time, the resulting anaerobic conditions produce methane. Rice accounts for around 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions, comparable to the aviation industry, and about 12% of all methane. In India, rice covers some 40 million hectares, a quarter of the country's agricultural land, in a nation that is already deeply water stressed. Today I am joined by Devdut Dalal of Mitti Labs (https://www.mittilabs.earth/), who is working on addressing water use efficiency and methane for smallholder farmers. The practice change is alternate wetting and drying. The challenge is implementing it across tens of thousands of farmers with an average farm size of one hectare. Exposing the soil to air a few times a season reduces water consumption, reduces methane, and does not reduce yield. Their secret to scaling is to do one thing well, focus on that, and keep things simple. "We're going to do one good thing across 100 farms. Get that one thing right. Prove the work was meaningful and impactful and reward worthy. And then you can stack good thing number two, good thing number three, good thing number four." — Devdut Dalal Getting 70,000 farmers across more than 100,000 hectares to adopt a new practice took four things: trust, borrowed from local field agents and NGOs who already have relationships in those communities; demonstrated proof, by asking a farmer with four acres to try it on one; ongoing support; and an incentive. Trust, proof, support and reward. It is simply a matter of creating value for farmers. That value comes from carbon credits. Companies with scope three commitments pay for the methane reductions, and the farmers are paid for the credits. Mitti has just signed an agreement with Google to supply one million credits by 2030, one of the largest super po...

Government policy to address today's food system challenges with Robert Bonnie former Undersecretary of Agriculture, USDA

45 min

Managing and mitigating risk runs through my whole conversation with Robert Bonnie. Since the Dust Bowl, USDA policy, the Farm Bill and especially crop insurance have given US farmers a safety net that shares the risk of growing the nation's food. But farming keeps getting riskier. Climate change, volatile input costs and commodity prices, access to labour, access to markets and geopolitical instability are all shifting more than they used to. Too often farmers and ranchers are left to carry that extra risk alone. Governments have a unique role to play here. "The question from a policy standpoint is how do you drive policy that is focused on the outcomes that folks want and that allow for the type of innovation you need in the private sector, and that de-risk the adoption of many of these practices, recognizing we actually don't have all the answers right now. We need to allow for innovation. How do we do that in a way that works for farmers while it also works for the public?" Robert Bonnie At the same time, new technologies and innovation are opening up ways to manage that risk that weren't available a decade ago. We already know that no-till, cover crops, crop rotation and better grazing make yields more stable through drought and flood. During the Biden administration, Robert tried to design crop insurance that would reward growers for adopting those practices because they reduce yield risk. "It's very hard to do. It's possible, I think, with new technology." That's now his focus at Sage, a startup using AI on soil data to support better insurance products and farm lending. He also draws a lesson from overseeing the US Forest Service in the Obama years. Every year firefighting took more of the budget, and less was left for the land management that stops catastrophic fires in the first place. Agriculture risks the same trap: paying for the disaster instead of the preparation. Robert served 12 years as a political appointee in the Obama and Biden administrations,...

Beef sustainability, methane, and efficiency with Tom McDonald, US Roundtable for Sustainable Beef

48 min

Beef sustainability frequently gets framed as something imposed on the ranchers and the industry from outside—regulatory requirements, consumer pressure, climate obligations driven by environmental groups and activists, leaving the industry industry to respond or resist. But this frame misses something fundamental. My guest today, Tom McDonald, is chair of the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and sustainability lead at Five Rivers Cattle. His reframing is powerful because it turns sustainability from an external demand into something the beef industry has been pursuing for generations. As he puts it: "Sustainability is a journey and not a destination."  The three pillars are simple: environmentally sound, socially responsible, economically viable. But McDonald breaks this down further into language that resonates with producers: efficiency. The beef industry has been working on efficiency for decades. Feed efficiency. Land efficiency. Resource efficiency. When you talk to ranchers about doing more with less, you're speaking their language. "Methane emissions is lost efficiency. Methane is energy that doesn't get converted to pounds of beef… As the beef industry, we didn't start focusing on that when it became a political issue. We've been focused on that for a long time, trying to make the animals more efficient." says McDonald This reshaping of the methane conversation from primarily a climate problem to be solved for environmental virtue to lost productivity is powerful. The insight is profound. When McDonald sat on a methane roundtable with the oil and gas industry, they described their leaking valves the same way: uncaptured gas is money walking out the door. The economics align across industries. Methane capture isn't virtue—it's profit optimization. But there's an important caveat embedded in this philosophy. McDonald is clear about something critical: the beef industry doesn't need to reach zero methane to make significant impact. Complete elimination isn...

Feed efficiency on pasture: The next frontier with Matt Beck, Texas A&M

40 min

The beef industry has spent decades optimizing feed efficiency in one place: the feedlot. Genetics have been selected for finishing performance, cattle are placed on feed at lighter weights and fed to heavier carcasses, and the result is measurable improvement in how much feed converts to pounds of beef. Al Rotz's 50-year life cycle assessment comparing 1972 to 2022 documents this clearly—the industry has made tremendous progress. But this optimization has created a misalignment: the most profitable cattle for the finishing sector are not the most profitable cattle for cow-calf operations. Today we are joined by Matt Beck from Texas A&M, whose research reveals a profound inefficiency hiding in plain sight. For every 100 pounds of additional cow body weight, weaned calf weight increases by only 14 pounds. That extra 100 pounds of cow, however, requires approximately 600 pounds of additional forage annually. Simple math: ranchers are feeding 600 pounds to produce 14 pounds of marketable product. This isn't a visible problem. Ranchers can't see the extra 600 pounds of pasture consumption. But it's there, compounding year after year, driving profitability down precisely when the industry needs it up. Meanwhile, herd sizes have crashed to 1950s levels—not because ranchers want smaller herds, but because drought cycles are becoming more severe and smaller cows are more resilient to them. Matt's most exciting work focuses on methane as a proxy for feed efficiency on pasture. Within the herds he's measured, there's 30% variation in methane emissions among animals producing identical output. And separate research shows that 10% reductions in feed intake are achievable without any loss in productivity. As Matt puts it: "Feed efficiency on pasture is the next great frontier, and with advances in technology, we're becoming more and more able to do that." The challenge isn't scientific. It's economic alignment and infrastructure access for small producers who comprise the majori...

Why telling people to eat less meat will never work - and what we can do instead with Bruce Friedrich, The Good Food Institute

55 min

Meat consumption has risen every single year that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has been measuring. Despite warnings about climate impacts spanning over a century, from carbon and methane's  effects to James Hansen's congressional testimony in 1986, to a book called "Diet for a Small Planet" published 52 years ago, global meat production continues its upward trajectory. All available analysis indicates the world will eat at least 50% more meat by 2050. But here's the challenge: human beings struggle with anything requiring self-denial. Energy consumption keeps rising. Miles driven keeps rising. Meat consumption keeps rising. This is not a failure of knowledge or information, it's rooted in human nature itself. Consuming more feels like improvement in quality of life. Today we are joined by Bruce Friedrich, founder and CEO of the Good Food Institute, whose new book "Meat" (meatbook.org) articulates this systems-level thinking. Friedrich offers pragmatic frameworks rather than ideological purity. He recognizes that renewable energy succeeded not by asking people to consume less energy, but by providing better alternatives at competitive prices, enabled by decades of government policy coordinating R&D support, manufacturing incentives, tax credits, and infrastructure investment. He argues that alternative proteins require similar government commitment including: sustained funding for open-source R&D, manufacturing scale-up support, regulatory clarity, and policies that genuinely protect farmer prosperity rather than threatening it. Without government policy as the coordinating force, tribalism, geopolitics, and farmer opposition will likely ensure failure. Friedrich highlights how ranchers and farmers face genuine economic threats that current policy fails to address. Without deliberate government policy protecting their interests, alternative proteins can be seen as an existential threat rather than an opportunity. Ranchers worry about market...

Regenerative agriculture with Anastasia Volkova, Regrow Ag

49 min

Forty leading global food and agriculture companies recently declared their commitment to regenerative agriculture. This unprecedented industry alignment signals that the sector has moved beyond looking at sustainable farming an aspirational ideal and into investment and scale. Yet challenges remain as adoption of regenerative practices is sliding backward in North America. Satellite imagery processed with AI and biogeochemical modeling reveals that cover cropping and conservation tillage adoption have declined over recent years. In many Midwest states, the losses reach double digits percentage points.This data comes from monitoring 1.5 billion acres globally, representing 52% of global arable land. Simultaneously, farmers are facing a squeeze with rising diesel and fertilizer costs coinciding with weak commodity markets and decreasing government funding. The $3.8 billion investment in climate-smart practices from the Inflation Reduction Act has been partially replaced by a $700 million regenerative pilot program Today we are joined by Anastasia Volkova from Regrow Ag, an early leader and advocate for regenerative agriculture. Regrow has evolved from evangelizing regenerative practices to managing a critical transition to making regenerative agriculture repeatable and scalable across radically different conditions through creative co-investment, alternative funding mechanisms, and regional innovation. Regrow’s framework identifies three distinct market stages: the evangelizing phase focused on building common nomenclature, the investing phase amplified by government dollars and corporate commitments, and the current challenge of making practices repeatable in a constrained funding environment. Her work spans North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia, revealing how different regions activate different capital sources, from European carbon certification frameworks to Brazilian vertically integrated agro-holdings pioneering methane measurement in livestock. The co...

Feed efficiency and methane emissions with Ermias Kebreab, UC Davis

43 min

The poultry and swine industries have transformed feed efficiency over the past two decades. Through systematic improvement in nutrition, enzyme utilization, and animal genetics, they now produce vastly more protein from  fewer resources.  The challenge is not simply reducing methane emissions from cows, but reducing methane per unit of milk produced while maintaining farmer profitability and food security. But here's the complexity: feed intake in dairy cattle is difficult to measure in controlled research facilities; in pasture-based systems where 88% of global cattle graze, measurement becomes extraordinarily challenging. Yet without precise data, researchers cannot translate laboratory findings into reliable commercial recommendations. This measurement gap between what science discovers and what farmers can practically implement represents agriculture's critical bottleneck. When you combine this with the variability in dairy systems—roughly 20% natural variation in methane emissions even among genetically similar control animals—the path forward requires nuanced, system-level analysis rather than simple silver bullets. Today we are joined by Ermias Kebeab from UC Davis, whose research demonstrates that genetic selection offers a permanent, cumulative, and heritable pathway to improved feed efficiency. Kebeab's recent work evaluated the EcoFeed index developed by STgenetics, a genomic breeding value tool based on over 10,000 animals—7,623 growing Holstein heifers and 2,538 lactating cows. Results showed that selecting for improved residual feed intake (RFI) reduces lifetime emissions without compromising productivity. A one-standard-deviation improvement in genomic RFI decreased feed consumption by 2.73% and reduced lifetime CO2 equivalent emissions by 2.42% per animal—equivalent to 868 kg CO2e savings per cow. A three-standard-deviation improvement showed even greater potential, reducing feed intake by 8.2% and emissions by 7.31%, while simultaneously lowering f...

Artificial Intelligence, the need for reliable data, and where it will have the greatest impacts on agriculture with Aidan Connolly, Agritech Capital

54 min

Artificial intelligence is advancing at an astonishing pace—improvements measured in five-thousand-fold increases from week to week according to AI researchers at Singularity University. Yet in agriculture, most farmers remain largely disconnected from these advances, using AI only at the most basic level for administrative tasks like finance, report writing, and form filling. This widening gap threatens to leave the agricultural sector further and further behind as the world accelerates into what might be called the "bullet train moment" of AI adoption. Today we are joined by Aidan Connolly, CEO of Agritech Capital, who has spent the past years advising agricultural organizations on AI readiness.  Aidan joins Ash Cloud to discuss how to restructure agricultural businesses for AI-driven decision-making without waiting for others to lead the way. The big challenge is that AI systems can only work with the data available to them. In agriculture, that data is fundamentally flawed. Most farm information is still captured by humans in notebooks, then transcribed into databases. Each step introduces errors, misinterpretation, and gaps that make datasets unsuitable for the sophisticated decision-making AI promises to deliver. Meanwhile, the major AI companies racing forward at incomprehensible speeds won't wait for agriculture to catch up. When you consider that farmers are constantly gathering sensory information through sight, sound, and observation while working in the field, data that never enters any database, the informational chasm becomes even more apparent. Yet animal production systems offer unique opportunities. Dairy cows milked three times daily provide recurring windows to assess milk quality, animal health, fertility, and nutrition. Hens laying eggs daily, pigs weighed multiple times, animals with collars and sensors, these continuous data streams contain vastly more untapped value than the sector has realized.   Send us Fan Mail

Building a company that leverages biological complexity to improve livestock productivity with a reduced climate impact - Tom Williams Number 8 Bio

43 min

“I’m yet to meet a grazier that doesn’t want a 5-15% feed conversation ratio improvement.” says Tom Williams, CEO of Number 8 Bio.  Producers motivated by not losing 10% of their feed to the atmosphere. Enteric methane from livestock represents one of the rare climate challenges where environmental impact aligns with economic opportunity. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and  it also represents wasted nutrition. Approximately 10% of feed energy consumed by ruminants escapes as methane rather than supporting growth or milk production. Few climate solutions offer both emissions reduction and immediate productivity gains for those implementing them. But here's the challenge: the rumen contains billions of microorganisms competing, collaborating, and interacting across complex metabolic pathways. Human knowledge of this biological complexity remains incomplete. Finding molecules that reduce methane without compromising animal health or performance requires casting an extraordinarily wide net. Today we are joined by Tom Williams, founder and CEO of Number 8 Bio, a synthetic biology company developing feed additives to reduce enteric methane emissions.  Number 8 Bio's journey demonstrates rapid adaptation to scientific reality. Initially engineering yeast to produce bromoform and seaweed molecules, the team quickly recognized cost barriers for feed additive markets. They pivoted entirely, developing an automated in vitro rumen screening system processing approximately 100 tests weekly. Over several years, they screened thousands of potential products—peptides, enzymes, probiotics, natural extracts, small molecules, and combinations—seeking winners through systematic trial rather than theoretical prediction. The company now focuses on a single organic molecule showing methane reductions and productivity improvements in grazing systems. Initial feedlot trials revealed hydrogen buildup and intake reductions, so Williams followed the science toward pasture-based applicatio...

Building resilient agrifood systems across conflict zones and climate stressed regions with Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT

59 min

The green revolution resulted in unprecedented improvements in the efficiency and productivity of food production. Recent decades of increasingly globalized free trade has further imporved efficiecies across the supply chain. These improvements that have benefited millions have done so largely at the expense of resiliance and the shock waves of this vulnerability are starting to be felt as fertilizer and energy prices rise.   Today I am joined by Bram Govaerts, Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), to his efforts to build resilient agrifood systems across conflict zones and climate-stressed regions. Seventy percent of food consumed in the Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Twenty percent of global nitrogen-based fertilizer exports through this same chokepoint. For decades, global food systems have been optimized for efficiency. Nitrogen fertilizer plants positioned beside oil fields and shipped on demand. This efficiency created abundance and affordability, but at a cost.  But here's the challenge: we have become victims of our own success. Pursuit of efficiency without resilience has created dangerous choke points in systems we depend upon for survival.  Food system fragility is never just about production disruptions. In Sudan, fertile soils along the Nile could feed the Gulf region, yet conflict has collapsed production systems that previously supplied the area. Across the globe, 60% of countries most affected by climate change also face armed conflict. Food insecurity drives migration and instability that compound the original crisis. CIMMYT's approach operates across three pillars: discovery, system development, and humanitarian response. Current research on biological nitrification inhibition could enable crops to utilize nitrogen fertilizer 30% more efficiently. In conflict zones like Sudan, CIMMYT works alongside internally displaced communities...

Leading US beef sustainability with Steve Wooten, Beatty Canyon Ranch

1 hr 1 min

The journey toward sustainable beef production in the United States began before the term "sustainability" entered common usage.  Today we are joined by Steve Wooten, a rancher in southeastern Colorado's shortgrass prairie and a founding member of the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. Wooten manages Beatty Canyon Ranch in a region receiving 11-14 inches of annual rainfall, where the same perennial grass species documented in Native American archaeological sites continue thriving today under rotational grazing systems. Steve approach to grazing and sustainability changed when he met Alan Savory and learned of his work on holistic management. Eleven years ago, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association established the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, bringing together the entire beef supply chain—from cow-calf producers through feedlots, packers, processors, and retailers—alongside civil society organizations and universities. This unprecedented collaboration addressed a critical reality. Only 85% of the nation's cows currently brings a calf to weaning. No major corporation would accept a 15% efficiency loss before year-end, yet the beef industry has operated at this level while simultaneously wrestling with climate concerns and supply chain pressures.  Steve's approach integrates multiple data streams, Agriwebb and Pasture Map for grazing tracking, Enriched Ag camera systems capturing images every six seconds for vegetation analysis, and soil carbon sampling. His drought management plan includes trigger dates in March, June, and October for adjusting stocking rates, early weaning protocols, and strategic culling based on meteorological projections. The ranch maintains ungrazed pastures as drought mitigation, ensuring forage reserves for subsequent years while varying grazing timing to provide near-full growing season rest between grazing events—defined in his environment as March through October. Send us Fan Mail

Data driven livestock production for feed efficiency with Andrew Freshwater Clear Creek Pastoral Co.

48 min

Feed efficiency remains one of the biggest gray areas and least understood aspects of livestock production. Yet understanding how much grass a cow consumes to produce a calf or a ewe to produce a lamb is critical not only to farmer and ranch profitability, but also to the sustainability of the industry. At 19 cents per kilogram to grow dry matter, inefficiency compounds rapidly. The difference between efficient and inefficient animals can determine whether operations generate profit or struggle to cover overhead costs. Today we are joined by Andrew Freshwater, who has spent over 30 years using data to drive efficient breeding decisions across his sheep and cattle production enterprises in northeastern Victoria. Freshwater's family brought Angus cattle and Romney sheep to Australia in 1849, establishing a multi-generational commitment to livestock genetics. Recent heifer trials demonstrated dramatic efficiency differences between groups run as contemporary cohorts. Through Zoetis genomic testing, Freshwater documented that genetically inferior heifers showed poor feed conversion efficiency and marginal annual returns, while superior genetics in the same management system generated excellent profitability. The lesson is clear: breeding animals is neither pure art nor pure science, but rather a data-informed approach that acknowledges biological complexity while leveraging technology—from genomics to artificial intelligence—to optimize resource utilization across diverse farming systems. Beginning performance recording in 1989 as a teenager, Freshwater has accumulated over 80,000 sheep records representing approximately 3.5 million data points through long-term progeny testing programs. Rather than relying on static estimated breeding values, he has developed proprietary software that runs Monte Carlo simulations incorporating local climate data, grass types, and historical weather patterns to identify the most profitable animals for specific environmental conditions...

Cow feed efficiency, the greatest area of untapped potential for beef production, with Matt Wilson West Virginia University

53 min

Feed efficiency, despite its importance from both an environmental sustainability and farm profitability perspective, remains one of the biggest gray areas and least understood aspects of livestock production. Today we are joined by Matt Wilson from West Virginia University, who has spent his career studying how efficiently cattle convert grass into food. In 2003, Wilson installed the first individual feed intake system at a central U.S. performance test facility. Since 2019, his team has collected daily individual feed intake, water intake, and body weight data on 600-900 animals annually, building machine learning approaches to determine intakes of grazing animals at scale. Wilson's research has revealed dramatic variation in resource efficiency. Two similar bulls in his performance tests gained at identical rates, yet one consumed 50% more feed—approximately 7,000 pounds annually—for no additional performance. This difference represents $600 per animal per year at conservative feed costs. For breeding females in the herd for ten productive years, such inefficiency compounds across their lifetime. Unlike feed additives that only work in formulated rations, genetic improvements in resource utilization are permanent, cumulative, and applicable across both feedlot and grazing systems globally. Of the 90 million beef cattle in the United States, approximately 88% spend their lives grazing on pastures or consuming harvested forages. The remaining 12% are finished in feedlots. Understanding what these grazing animals are actually consuming is critical for accurately assessing the environmental footprint of the beef industry. Grazing animals produce approximately 23 grams of methane per kilogram of dry matter intake compared to 10-13 grams for feedlot cattle—nearly twice as much per kilogram consumed. Since 88% of U.S. cattle and an even higher proportion globally are in pastoral systems where methane intensity is greatest, accurate measurement of grazing intake is essen...

Investing in regenerative agriculture, the food system, and metabolic health with Carter Williams - iSelect Fund

51 min

There is a huge amount we can learn from understanding the connections between soil health, food production, and human metabolic health. Over the last 50-60 years, modern agricultural systems have become increasingly reliant on synthetic inputs that boost yields but degrade soil microbiomes and reduce micronutrient density in our food. This degradation contributes to the chronic disease epidemic costing the United States trillions of dollars annually. The impact of regenerative agriculture on both environmental and human health cannot be understated. Healthier soils with robust microbiomes produce crops with superior nutritional profiles—more micronutrients and beneficial phytochemicals that express through the soil-plant-human pathway. When people consume these nutrient-dense foods, they show reduced appetite for processed foods and better metabolic outcomes, though randomized controlled trials remain limited. Today we are joined by Carter Williams from iSelect Fund, a 10-year-old investment firm focused on reducing chronic disease by transforming food systems. Williams coordinates investments across the food value chain—from row crop biologics to novel sweeteners and soil health monitoring. iSelect Fund targets decommoditizing 5-10% of conventional agriculture rather than wholesale transformation, creating price premiums for regenerative producers while stabilizing markets for conventional farmers. The fund prioritizes nutrient density over yield maximization. Williams identifies cognitive load as agriculture's fundamental transformation challenge. Farmers with 20 years of conventional experience face learning entirely new systems. This extends throughout supply chains: CPG companies have infrastructure optimized for current grain varieties; input companies have systems built around synthetic fertilizer. Even willing stakeholders face substantial cognitive and financial investment requirements. The conversation explores modernizing Bureau of Land Management grazin...

Breeding for profitable, efficient, locally adapted and sustainable cattle with Troy Rowan University of Tennessee

47 min

Currently beef cattle production faces a profitability challenge driven by rising feed costs and efficiency gaps. For cow-calf operations, particularly where producers operate on forage-based systems, the biggest variable cost is cow feed, yet geneticists lack precise selection tools for measuring and improving forage intake and conversion efficiency.  Today we are joined by Troy Rowan from the University of Tennessee, where he investigates economically important traits in beef cattle with particular emphasis on cow efficiency, local adaptation, and genetic approaches to increasing sustainability. His research focuses on developing novel measurement approaches to create practical selection tools for grazing efficiency. The opportunity lies in emerging technologies. While decades of work developed feed efficiency tools for concentrate-fed feedlot environments, these measurements don't translate to grazing systems. Rowan's team explores indicators serving as stand-ins in genetic evaluations, using emissions as metabolic proxies, leveraging precision technologies like AI and computer vision to capture phenotypes previously impractical to measure on large animal groups. Methane and CO2 are important because they are the best indicator of metabolism currently available. Even though they are imperfect metabolism needs to be included to provide an indicator for cow feed costs. Looking forward, epigenetics and other "omics" technologies promise to revolutionize individual animal management. Rather than just predicting genetic potential passed to offspring, these tools could enable phenotypic predictions based on epigenetic marks, gene expression, or metabolomics. A feedlot receiving heterogeneous cattle could place animals in appropriate pens and management protocols based on predicted disease resistance, growth potential, or feed efficiency—filling in the 70% of trait variation that genetics alone doesn't capture. After measuring 10,000-plus animals to develop robust genet...

Low cost, locally produced zero emissions nitrogen fertilizer with Frere Byrne PlasmaLeap Technologies

36 min

Over the last century our food systems have become increasingly reliant on synthetic nitrogen. This nitrogen fertilizer is mostly made through the energy intensive haber-bosch process in centralized production plants, often located in politically sensitive location, that have a carbon footprint multiple times greater than the aviation industry.  Today we are joined by Frere Byrne of PlasmaLeap Technologies who is developing low cost mobile technology to systhesis zero emissions ammonia from air and water. I caught up with Frere to discuss the impact of locally produced nitrogen that is not relaint on fossil feuls and long and centralized supply chains PlasmaLeap's modular chemical plants—called NFix—operate as single 40-foot containerized units producing industrial-grade nitrates and ammonia from air, water, and renewable electricity. These units run autonomously using algorithms, requiring no specialized operators and can be controlled remotely from company desks. For large-scale applications, units stack like batteries to create regional facilities. For smallholder farmers, Plasma Leap has developed miniature versions funded through a Gates Foundation grant, targeting production costs below the lowest commodity urea prices of the past 20-30 years. The technology addresses identical challenges across vastly different farming contexts. Whether a one-hectare subsistence farm in sub-Saharan Africa or a 100,000-hectare cereal operation in Australia, farmers face volatile input prices, intermittent supply chains, and little control over product quality.    Send us Fan Mail

Addressing the Climate, Agriculture, Landscape and Food Security Nexus through policy with Tobias Gräs Danish Agriculture and Food Council

49 min

Denmark made headlines in 2024 as the first country to implement a carbon tax on livestock emissions. The country's ambitious 70% emissions reduction target by 2030 includes agricultural reductions of 55-65%. What makes Denmark's policy truly remarkable isn't the tax itself—it's the 60% tax deduction corresponding to mitigation potential. This signals that Denmark's approach isn't anti-livestock, but rather pro-innovation, explicitly avoiding targets on livestock numbers while incentivizing farmers to adopt technologies and practices that can reduce emissions by up to 40%. The impact of Denmark's inclusive policy-making approach through the tripartite agreement cannot be understated. Ministers, farmer representatives, nature organizations, labor unions, and industry came together to craft comprehensive solutions extending far beyond livestock taxation—encompassing voluntary land reform with full compensation, significant afforestation efforts, biodiversity enhancement, and water protection. Today we are joined by Tobias Gräs, Head of Policy at the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, where he coordinates climate action through the World Farmers' Organization and represents Danish farmers and major European cooperative businesses in Brussels. Fresh from COP 30 in Belém, Brazil, Gräs brings insights from Denmark's pioneering policy implementation and an ambitious $50 million Green Climate Fund project transforming dairy production in Kenya's Lake Victoria region. The Tunza GCF project demonstrates how Denmark's cooperative model can drive change across vastly different contexts. Partnering with FAO and the Green Climate Fund, this five-year initiative received $50 million in funding in 2025. with an additional $10 million loan component from Kenyan banks. The project targets 130 agricultural cooperatives representing 80,000 farmers across six value chains in Kenya's Lake Victoria region: dairy, coffee, tea, poultry, African leafy vegetables, and fruit trees. Kenyan da...

Animal health as a climate solution with Nick Wheelhouse, Edinburgh Napier Univeristy

52 min

Animal Health as a Climate and Food Security Solution In this episode of the Ash Cloud podcast, we explore an often-overlooked opportunity in the fight against climate change with Dr. Nick Wheelhouse, Professor of Comparative Infectious Disease at Edinburgh Napier University and co-lead of the Global Research Alliance Animal Health and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensity Network. Dr. Wheelhouse brings unique expertise spanning both veterinary research and animal science. After completing his BSc in Agricultural Biochemistry and Nutrition at Newcastle University and PhD in Animal Science at the University of Aberdeen, he worked as a Senior Postdoctoral Scientist at the Moredun Research Institute before joining Edinburgh Napier University. His research focuses on bacterial pathogens affecting reproduction—particularly Chlamydia, Brucella, Coxiella burnetii, and Listeria—in both humans and livestock, with extensive work on disease surveillance across Africa. The central thesis challenges conventional thinking: while sick animals are universally recognized as unproductive, the climate implications remain surprisingly underexplored. Wheelhouse reveals that approximately 20% of global animal production is lost due to health issues, with higher burdens in the Global South. This represents not just wasted resources and food insecurity, but significant greenhouse gas emissions as animals continue producing emissions while failing to produce food. The conversation explores specific case studies, including ongoing work with Kenyan dairy farmers where 53% of animals show subclinical mastitis. For farmers earning approximately $70 per cow per year, the $10 treatment cost represents a substantial investment. Yet through basic hygiene and management interventions rather than expensive pharmaceutical solutions, the project aims to demonstrate tangible productivity improvements that make economic sense while delivering environmental co-benefits. Throughout the discussion, Wheelhouse...

Global food security, innovation, and the investment gap with Maximo Torero UNFAO

1 hr 3 min

The cost living is an increasing global challenge. Food inflation in 2023 was 13.6%, however food prices increased by up to 30% in many low income countries. Currently 60-80% of voters consider food price as a decisive factor in their choice of candidate and across 60% of countries food costs represent more than 25% of the CPI basket.  Right now, 670 million people—8.2% of our global population—are going hungry. By 2030, projections show that 300 million people in Africa alone could face food insecurity. But here's the paradox: we have the technology, the knowledge, and the resources to address this crisis. So what's holding us back? Food insecurity is never just about hunger. Throughout history, the impacts of food crises have freuquently included geopolitical instability, increased migration and conflcit.  Today we are joined by Maximo Torero, Chief Economist at FAO, where he is working to build resilient, inclusive, and sustainable agrifood systems. Previously Maximo served as served as Executive Director at the World Bank Group. Send us Fan Mail

Creating a carbon neutral beef operation with Robert Mackenzie, Mackas Australian Black Angus Beef

55 min

"Sustainability means leaving the land in a better place, preparing the next generation for a turbulent future in agriculture... and it's probably also a license to produce." Robert MacKenzie and his farms on the mid north coast of NSW was the first Australian beef operation to become net zero through pasture carbon sequestration. Roberts journey began with a dedication to understand the numbers around all metrics on the farm and then adjusting his management to improve these metrics. The initial seed in his journey to sustainability was planted by Meat & Livestock Australia announcing in 2015 that the industry needs to work towards carbon neutrality by 2030. This led to collecting 1400 soil tests each year across 16,000 acres. This led to healthier and more productive pastures, lower and better use of inputs, improved water holding capacity of the soils and improved weaning rates. Other improvements include adding water points so no animal needs to ever walk more than 800m for a drink. Staff and livestock happiness is also a key goal across Robert's farms. Reproductive performance is critical with Mackas having achieve 98% fertility year on year. Cows that are not producing a calf but still producing methane emissions are finished and sold. Robert's female herd is the backbone of his operation.  Robert puts his success down to all the 1%ers that make a business successful. For Mackas this includes carbon sequestration, implementation of alternative energy and better diesel use across equipment, investing genetics with a huge focus on feed use efficiency, addition of many water points, improved ground cover, addressing trace element deficiencies and the inclusion of methane mitigating feed additives.  You can listen to our conversation here: Send us Fan Mail

Building a profitable animal biotech company with Mike Seely, Native Microbials

50 min

AgriFoodTech Venture Capital investment is down by roughly 90% from the high of 2021 with the lack of exits or creation of profitiable agtech companies resulting from the billions invested frequently taking the blame for investors looking for alternative places for put their money. But there are success stories.  Today we are joined by Mike Seely, the CEO of Native Microbials. Over the last 10 years Mike and his team has built a profitable animal biotech company. I recently caught up with Mike to hear about this journey and how Native created a product farmers wanted, were willing to pay for, and they built the manufacturing process to cost effectively produce the product at market scale. Send us Fan Mail

Brazil's transition from a net food importer to one of the world's leading exporters over the last 50 years with Bruno Brasil, Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock

58 min

There is a huge amount we can learn from Brazil’s transition from being a net food importer to one of the world’s largest food exporters over the last 50 years. Since deforestation across the Amazon peaked in the mid 1990’s Brazil has continued to invest in both driving productivity increases alongside increasing efforts to preserve wilderness areas and restore degraded lands. To help address climate change the government has doubled investment including doubling investment in low carbon agriculture from $1Billion to $2 Billion through their ABC plan. This program includes making low interest credit available for Brazilian farmers to adopt low carbon practices. Over the last 10 years productivity of beef cattle in Brazil increased by 2.5% per year and dairy production by almost 4% per year. At the same time the ABC plus plan for beef cattle aims to reduce methane emissions and methane intensity. A huge component of this recovering 40 million hectares of degraded pasture land. Today, around 80% of the Amazon is protected by law to combat deforestation.   The impact of the Brazilian Government’s investment in education through Embrapa’s long running programs of sponsor Brazilian PhD students across world leading universities cannot be understated.   Today we are joined by Bruno Brasil, the director of Sustainable Production and Irrigation at the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock where he coordinates the Sectoral Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change and Low Carbon Emissions in Agriculture.  Brazilian farming is highly diverse, over 85% are family farmers, with over 80% of these below 50ha. At the other end of the scale, the largest 1% of all properties in Brazil are responsible for 49% of food production in value terms.  As Brazil prepares to host world leaders at COP30 later this year I welcome Bruno to discuss the successes and challneges facing Brazilain agriculture.  You can listen to our conversation here: Send us Fan Mail

Regenerative agriculture with Jason Rowntree, Michigan State University

53 min

Today we are joined by Jason Rowntree from Michigan State University where he is working on systems increase the resilience and to reduce the environmental harm of our food systems. Finding the driver across rural America that encourage farmers and ranchers to adopt management practices that improve soils, and protect local environments and the climate are a key priority of his work. Jason has built and runs the centre for regenerative agriculture at Michigan State University where he is increasingly seeing benefits for farmers that adopt regenerative principles to improve soil health which include: no tillcover cropsimproved biodiversityincorporation of grazing animals in cropping systemsBuilding the resilience to the farms and ranches of Michigan and further across the United State is a key focus of his work.   Send us Fan Mail

Epigenetics with Travis Bayer, Decibel Bio

41 min

The epigenome is essentially the control software for plants and animals that dictates when, where, and to what level different genes in the genome are expressed. Moderating the epigenome has the potential to upgrade crops in real time, during the season, to adjust photosynthesis and warn crops of upcoming droughts, diseases, or other threats. While traditional plant breeding and genetics requires trait selections to be made prior to planting and establishing the crops, epigentics enables these traits to be managed after the plant is already growing.  Today we are joined by Travis Bayer who recently founded Decibel Bio to develop spray on  epigenetic instructions that enable a new level of control over crop traits. Travis and Decibel are leading the development of highly targeted epigenetic innovations for crops while other startups are looking at epigenetic reprograming to develop human therapeutics.   Send us Fan Mail

Is meat a luxury that is becoming increasingly difficult to afford with Paul Behrens, Oxford University

1 hr 5 min

Over human history animal protein has always been a luxury food. Meat is the first thing people generally chose to buy when they rise from lower to middle income.  With the current cost of living crises across the world, further food price inflation predicted due to climate change, geopolitical instability, and biodiversity loss, increasing impacts on productivity due to climate change, as well as the growing impact of dietary related disease, the big question is how much longer will we be able to afford this luxury.  The answer is it’s complex.  Today we are joined by Paul Behrens from Oxford University where he is working on systems to reduce the environmental harm and increase the resilience of our food systems. The three things we can change are what we eat, the amount of food wasted, and how we produce our food. Paul sees all three as being necessary for the future health of ourselves and the environment. You can listen to our conversation here. Send us Fan Mail

Building sustainable supply chains with Lamar Steiger and Neil Mellers, Ranch2Retail

56 min

Beef supply chains have been described as the most dysfunctional and least organised supply chains of everything available in the supermarket. Today we are joined by Lamar Steiger and Neil Mellers from Ranch2Retail who are building connected beef supply chains to improve economic performance of the whole chain and environmental outcomes. Data across all participants is a key component of creating and sharing the extra value.  It took over 100 conversations before Lamar found a rancher who was interested in rising to the challenge of creating a premium supply chain for Walmart that provided consistent product, reliably at consistent price which give the customer a great beef eating experience across 4600 stores.  Prime Pursuits now supplies about 600 Walmart stores across the SE USA.  You can listen to our conversation here. Send us Fan Mail

The link between obesity and poverty, rising obesity, and how GLP-1s are changing the game with Jack Bobo UCLA

1 hr 3 min

In this episode I am exploring the rapidly growing rates of obesity globally, the rapid rise in the use of GLP-1s or obesity drugs,  how these are impacting our food systems, and how obesity and poverty seem to be linked. In the US around 10% of all Americans are either using GLP-1s or have tried GLP-1s, with early data showing a 5-10% decrease in food spending and a significant change in the foods people are purchasing. Yet, it's only the wealthiest that can afford these drugs.  Today we are joined by Jack Bobo, Director of the Rothman Family institute for food studies at UCLA where he is diving deep into how GLP-1s are reshaping the food system, consumer behavior, and human health. Obesity rates are skyrocketing globally. In the US 42% of the population is obese and three quarters are overweigh. Australia is hot on the heels of America and much of the world is moving in the same direction.  The cost of the is also growing.  In the US obesity and metabilic disease are costing about $1 trillion a year and that figure globally it between $10-12 trillion.   Yet it’s complicated, soda consumption and sugar consumption in the US are at 30 year lows, all while obesity is at an all time high. Sugar taxes have let to high income people losing weight and lower income no losing weight. Which follows a general trend that with almost every intervention, healthy people get healthier and unhealthy people don’t. Jack is also the author of "Why Smart People Make Bad Food Choices" Send us Fan Mail

Sustainable Livestock Transformation Initiative with Aimable Uwizeye UNFAO

40 min

Today we are joined Aimable Uwizeye, Livestock Policy Officer for the Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations where he is part of the team that implements the Sustainable Livestock Transformation initiative within the Animal Production and Health Division. Increasingly the impartance of animal health is being identified as a key aspect of improving sustainbility and reducing emissions. Aimable's mission is to promote global change towards a sustainable livestock sector by tackling climate change, reducing methane emissions, enhancing biodiversity, and reducing nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. Join me in this journey to create a more sustainable and resilient future for our planet.    Send us Fan Mail

Capitalizing on opportunity with Jason Strong, former Managing Director Meat and Livestock Australia

1 hr 8 min

The Australian livestock industries now produce high quality product, that is full tracebale, quality assured, with real time market information coming from a sophisticate supply chain that sells into high quality markets with preferential access including 16 FTAs. This has transitioned from an absolute commodity industry with only one free trade agreement, no traceability, national ID system, limited market information and a disconnected supply chain just 30 odd years ago.  Today we are joined Jason Strong, a long time advocate and leader in the Australian livestock industries including as the former Managing director of Meat and livestock Australia and former CEO of the AACo, Australia’s largest integrated cattle and beef producer, and is the oldest continuously operating company in Australia. Jason sees the greatest opportunity is making progress in areas that are efficiency productivity driven but has other knock on benefits, including the reduction of enteric emissions with the methane emissions from the base cow herd being the greatest challenge and poor reproductive performance being crucial to improving emissions intensity from these cows. Trust is the most critical thing to capitalism on these opportunities.    Send us Fan Mail

Breeding for sustainable livestock, how genetic selection can provide significant and permanent reductions to livestock emissions with Matthew Cleveland

53 min

Humans have been selectively breeding animals since before Roman times. Modern technologies and tools including genomics and artifical intelligence has hugely increased the rate of progress. Increasingly, sustainability traits such as the enviromneatl footprint of production are being included in breeding programs in addition to productivity, efficiency, and profitability traits.    Today we are joined Matthew Clevlend, a geneticist who leads sustainability at ABS Global across their beef and dairy genetic improvement programs. Early indications are that the heritability of methane emissions are between 20-30% which is similar to many traditional production traits. In addition, these improvements are both cumulative and permanent, and applicable to production systems across the Global North and Global South.    Send us Fan Mail

Challenging meat politics and promoting regenerative agriculture with Sparsha Saha, Harvard University

45 min

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. Send us Fan Mail

Incentivizing the least productive farmers to change with Jason Clay, World Wildlife Fund

1 hr 2 min

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.  Send us Fan Mail

Irrigation is colonising fresh water with Bruce Lankford, University of East Anglia

55 min

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. Send us Fan Mail

Wolves reduce vehicle deer collisions with Nick Parker Hoover Institution

1 hr 2 min

Economics, markets, and policy all have significant impacts on human behavior and decision making. Nick Parker is an environmental economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Hoover Institution who has been studying the human interaction with wolves, and especially the indirect effects wolves have on environments they live, to examine if it was possible for wolves to actually benefit humans and reduce threats to human lives and property. He found that the reintroduction of wolves into Wisconsin and other US States led to a 25% decrease in deer vehicle collisions. The research suggests that two thirds of this reduction is due to how wolves change deer behaviour rather than just eating deer.  The wolves prefer to travel along strait corridors such as roads, creeks, and railway lines leading to fewer deer in the vicinity of roads. The benefits from wolves was found to be 63 to one when the costs associated with human mortality, injuries, and damage to vehicles was compared to the compensation payments the state was making to ranchers for livestock predation. However, the impact of wolves and deer populations on communities is actually far more complex than just vehicle collisions and predation of livestock.  Deer also eat farmers crops, damage gardens, and damage timber, and they can spread Lyme disease. So deer vehicle collisions are only one aspect of the damages caused by over abundance of deer. Wolves also help control subservient predators like coyotes and foxes and and compete with mountain lions and bear. In the US the number one cause of livestock damage is from coyotes. Large deer populations can also provide economic benefits through hunting. All these indirect effects also feeds into the cost benefit analysis question.   Economics is a powerful tool for optimizing natural resource use and it is possible to set up a system where those who benefit compensate those who bear the cost. “Is it possible to set up a system that those who bene...

The politics and science of addressing the 2050 global demand for protein with Alison Van Eenennaam UC Davis

1 hr 5 min

Low- and middle-income countries house 76% of the global cattle herd, and by 2050 will be home to 8 billion people. They are the projected epicenter of both increased animal source food demand, and livestock-related emissions. The most promising approach to address this demand while limiting greenhouse gas emissions is to improve the efficiency of livestock production systems in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia through interventions in genetics, feeding and health. Boosting livestock productivity can improve both food security and producer incomes. Alternative proteins may play a limited role in addressing projected demand, but currently most companies are located in high-income countries Moreover, given the multifaceted roles that ruminants play in global agri-food systems, the social, economic and economic trade-offs associated with replacing meat and milk with alternative proteins must be evaluated holistically. Today we are joined by Alison Van Eenennaam from UC Davis who is leading the animal Genomics and Biotechnology Program is to provide research and education on the use of animal genomics and biotechnology in livestock production systems. Alison recently wrote this paper outlining the challenges alternative proteins face in meeting the increased demand across the Global South.   Send us Fan Mail

Artificial intelligence is neither artificial nor intelligent? with Aidan Connolly

58 min

Our food systems are orders of magnitude more complex than other sectors of our economy so how can tools such as Artificial intelligence help farmers across the world make better decisions to improve the sustainability and productivity of our food systems. Today we are joined by Aidan Connolly a animal agtech entrepreneur, investor, and author of The Future of Agriculture who has spend his career working on agricultural innovation.  Send us Fan Mail

Biosecurity with Andy Sheppard CSIRO

1 hr 1 min

Today Ash Cloud is partnering with CSIRO to bring you Andy Sheppard, the Chief Research Scientist Biosecurity at CSIRO where he leads efforts to protect Australia, it’s neighbours,  and trading partners from plant, animal and human pests and disease threats. Building local and global partnerships to understand the biology of the threats across their native and invaded range so intervention opportnities can be implemented is a key part of his work. Andy is also the Co-Executive Director of Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and CSIRO Catalysing Australia's Biosecurity Initiative.  You can listen to our conversation here. Send us Fan Mail

Climate change and national security with Sherri Goodman - International Military Council on Climate & Security

49 min

The US military has recognized climate change as a national security threat for decades our guest today, Sherri Goodman, has been credited with educating a generation of US military officers and government officials about the complex interactions between climate change and national security. She is Secretary General of the International Military Council on Climate & Security  and the author of Threat Multiplier: Climate, Military Leadership, and the Fight for Global Security.   I recently spoke with Sherri about her 30 odd years experience working on the nexus of climate and security, including the risks posed by climate change and the many indirect ways they can be manifested, the challenges in changing the mindset at DoD around how they think about climate change, what  can be learned from her experience, and opportunities to intervene.  You can listen to our conversation here. Send us Fan Mail

Climate related violence, a messy marriage of climate stress and poor governance with Peter Schwartzstein Environmental Journalist

48 min

The intersection between climate change and armed conflict is complex. For those who have not witnessed the difference between the devastation and social upheaval that results from war compared with any other form of social upheaval it is almost impossible to explain. This is why I see great importance in further understanding these intersections. Climate related violence is a messy marriage of climate stress and poor governance. ISIS profited from collapsing agricultural positions to bolster its ranks in Iraq and Syria. The recruitment rate of jihadis was three times higher from villages reliant solely on rain than from similar villages with access to irrigation water.  The developed world is not immune, above and beyond the global impacts of migration it has been documented that violence against women in Greece appears to increase almost in lockstep with summer temperates. In the United States, 85% of the mass shootings that accrued in 2022 took place between the June and September with the physiological changes unleashed by higher temperatures appearing to be a determining factor.  The migration stories that make the headlines are only the tip of the iceberg. These are based on the 10% of people that flee their homes due to conflict and migrate internationally.  The other 90% impact the towns and cities within their countries. However, as it's generally the best educated and wealthiest people that can actually afford to leave this also undermines the governance and financial security of the impacted villages further undermining these societies. The urban rural divide a growing issue globally. ISIS recruitment around Mosul was facilitated by the growing disparity between agricultural and urban livelihoods that led to some of the greatest  concentrations of ISIS recruits. The proximity to the city led ensured that villages were very conscious of this growing disparity making them easy targets for the ISIS recruiters. Peter Schwartzstein is an environmental jour...

How the livestock methane conversation has evolved with Frank Mitloehner UC Davis

42 min

Depending on who you speak with cattle can be vital to the sustainability of our food systems and our ability to provide health nutrition to humanity or they can be one of the largest sources of climate pollution. The culprit in this debate is methane, especially enteric methane emissions that is derived from the foregut of all ruminants including cattle. Frank Mitloehner is the Director of the UC Davis Clear Center that researches the intersection of animal agriculture and the environment and leads communication efforts across the complex interactions between the environmental health, human health, our food systems, and livestock. Frank’s work has significantly focused on methane emissions. I recently caught up with Frank to hear his perspective on how the conversation around methane has evolved, including the increasingly passionate positions on the role of ruminants in our food systems that are being advocated by different groups focused on addressing climate change.  It is widely accepted that reducing methane emissions is the emergency brake when it comes to mitigating warming, with a reduction of methane by 20, 30, or 40% having a significant impact due to the high warming potential of methane and it's rapid natural breakdown in the atmosphere. Where there is much more disagreement among those advocating for methane reduction is which sectors to target most urgently for methane reductions with oil and gas, waste, livestock, and domestic leaks being the most frequently discussed. Where there is no disagreement is the need for increased funding on research and innovations to reduce livestock methane.   Send us Fan Mail

Regenerative ranching with Rich Bradbury

54 min

Regenerative ranching has recently gained traction across the main stream media but the idea of using  livestock to mimic nature and managing a landscape holistically was largely led by Allan Savory from the 1980s. Rich Bradbury' parents attended the Savory Institute in the 1980's which was when he was first exposed to the holistic approach that Allan Savory brings to ranching.  I recently caught up with Rich to hear how this has impacted his thinking and the way he manages his ranch to this day. Send us Fan Mail

Nitrogen 2.0 with Eric Davidson University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Spark Climate Solutions, and Charles Brooke from Spark Climate Solutions

1 hr 5 min

Nitrogen is absolutely essential for all forms of life, plants, animals and microbes. Nitrogen is the basis for making amino acids, and amino acids are the basis for making proteins, enzymes. The historic nitrogen system was balanced and based on microbial activity transforming atmospheric nitrogen into soluble forms usable by plants and microbes. Eric Davidson's has been working to transform our food systems through better understanding terrestrial nutrient cycling, cycling, greenhouse gas emissions from soils, global biogeochemical cycles, and how they impact sustainable agriculture. Charles Brooke has been working to accelerate the rate of action and innovation in reducing the climate impact of livestock production. He leads Spark Climate Solutions livestock enteric methane mitigation program. The modern nitrogen system is based on the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilzers produced through the energy intensive Haber-Bosch process developed just prior to World War I to manufacture munitions. The impact of this synthetic nitrogen has spread far beyond conflict. Synthetic nitrogen has enabled our modern food systems to produce enough food to feed 8 billion people. It has also resulted in widespread nitrogen pollution in water ways and ever increasing levels of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Synthetic fertiliser production has been so successful that today 50 - 60% of all the nitrogen in human bodies in humans actually comes from Haber-Bosch processes. From a warming perspective nitrous oxide (or N2O) is about 270 times more potent than is carbon dioxide. However, unlike CO2 where levels are somewhat plateauing, N2O levels continue to rise.  The use of nitrogen fertilizer is hugely inefficient. Half of all fertilizer put on the ground is lost. Additional losses occur when plant proteins are fed to animals prior to human consumption.  Nitrogen 2.0 is focused on reducing nitrogen wastage and pollution, and increasing the circularity of nitrogen use. Th...

Tripling the impact of methane reducing feed additives with decentralized AI with Yaniv Altshuler MIT and Metha AI

42 min

The efficacy of methane reducing feed additives constantly varies between cows and herds because the rumen microbiome is constantly changing. Certain feed additives that worked really well at that one given her may stop working, or the other way around. Feed additives that were not working can become effective. Using AI based on the genome sequences within the microbiome so that the right additive is used at the right time can triple the impact of feed additives. Yaniv Altshuler has been working on Artificial Intelligence for the over 20 years focusing on decentralized and scalable AI methods. He is a researcher at MIT and the founder and CEO of Metha.ai where he is using decentralized AI algorthims that are ubiquitous across nature to predict the efficacy of methane reducing feed additives based on the cows microbiome. More details on how AI can increase the efficacy of feed additives can be found in Yaniv's white paper here: From Microbes to Methane: AI-Based Predictive Modeling of Feed Additive Efficacy in Dairy Cows Yaniv holds a PhD in Computer Science, and is the author of over 70 scientific papers and 15 patents. He is also the author of several books including "Security and Privacy in Social Networks" and "Applied Swarm Intelligence". Send us Fan Mail

Leading climate smart agriculture policy development and implementation with Secretary Karen Ross - California Department of Food and Agriculture

36 min

California has been leading efforts to implement climate change policy since Governor Schwarzeneger signed the Global Warming Solutions Act in 2006 to begin the transition to a carbon neutral economy with food and agriculture are a key component of California’s strategy.  Agriculture sits right in the middle of the climate debate, agriculture is a significant emitter and that needs to be acknowleded. Agriculture also has the potential be big part of the solution and the conversation needs to evolve beyond blame into how can we work together to address this ciritcal issue.  Secretary Karen Ross has been leading California Department of Food and Agriculture since 2019 and she is global leader in sustainable and climate smart agricultural where she has been driving progressive food climate policy in California, leveraging the state’s innovative start up culture to create new technologies, working to build resiliant local food systems, and building global partnerships that are critical to addressing cliamte change at scale. California has signed climate smart agriculture MOUs firstly with the Netherlands, followed Denmark, Israel, New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Mexico, and Vietnam. “Leadership is not just talking to who we know and feel comfortable with. It's the willingness to reach out and to truly listen. And to first understand if I want to be understood.” Looking towards the future we also need to ask how can we grow food in a changing climate both in highly developed econmoies such as California and also across the Global South. The vast majority of farmers are small a subsustance farmers, frequently living in povery and food insecurity. These people also make up the vast majority of malnourished people globally.  “Hunger drives desperation and creates unrest. Look at the migration patterns that are happening on a multitude of continents because of drought. There's not water to grow the crops. There's not the ability to feed the animals which are their sole income...

Into the clear blue sky, the path to restoring our climate with Rob Jackson Stanford University

58 min

Rob Jackson is a climate scientist who has been leading global efforts to reduce millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions and improve human health, safety, and air and water quality. Methane emissions are a major focus of Rob’s work as there is nothing else that gives as much power to slow global warming over the next decade or two.  Rob’s new book, "Into The Clear Blue Sky” the path to restoring our atmosphere is being released at the end of July by Simon & Schuster.  In the book Rob tells the story of the people creating and driving some of the boldest and most impactful climate solutions under development and what motivates and inspires these people to dedicate their careers to addressing climate change.  Rob Jackson is the Chair of the Global Carbon Project, a Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment and Precourt Institute for Energy, and a professor of earth science at Stanford University.  Send us Fan Mail

Catalysing industry, community, and government to achieve Zero Net Emissions with Richard Health - Zero Net Emissions from Agriculture CRC

42 min

The Zero Net Emissions from Agriculture Cooperative Research Council (ZNE-Ag CRC) is a key component of achieving the commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2040. The CRC comprises of 73 partenrs who have committed $AU87 million in cash which is matched by the Austrlain Federal Government. This becomes a $AU300 million program when in kind contributions are included. Richard Heath is the CEO of the ZNE-Ag CRC who brings decades of experience across research policy and hands on farming. I recently caught up with Richard to hear more about the pans for the ZNE-Ag CRC. You can listen to our conversation here. The ZNE-Ag CRC has four pillars that will foster collaborative researtch that includes industry partners and farmers to adress the key opportunities for emissions reduction across australian agriculture. Given the nature of food prodiuction across australia enteric methane reduction is the number one priority.  1: Low-emissions plant solutions Focused on reducing nitreous oxide and carbon diaoxide emissions across acre cropping, horticulture, and improving pasture species and grazing management to reduce enteric emissions.  2: Towards methane-free cattle and sheep Focused on breeding for lower emissions, imporved grazing management and delivery of feed additives to grazing animals. All of which require greatly expanded methane monitoring capitcty to be implementable.   3: Whole-farm and mixed enterprise systems analysis As there will be no silver bullet this is pillar will integrate all the learnings to provide farmers with the guidelines and tools to implement lower emissions management practices and technologies 4: Delivering Value from Net Zero This pillar will be integrating renewable energy and circvular economy solutions into autralian farming systems Send us Fan Mail

Developing the enteric methane inhibitor Bovaer® over the last 16 years with Maik Kindermann - DSM-Firmenich

48 min

Maik Kindermann, the inventor of the methane inhibitor 3-NOP or  Bovaer®. Earlier this week it was announced that Boaver has been approved for use by the FDA adding the United States to the other 59 countries where its available. Following a directive in 2008 from Feike Sifbesma, the former Chairman and CEO of dsm-firmenich Maik began working on a product to inhibit enteric methane. 16 years later Maik and his team have completed trials 119  and published 80 peer reviewed papers with another 31 in the pipeline. I recently caught up with Maik to hear about his journey developing Boaver and how the conversation on enteric methane has changed over that time.  You can listen too our conversation here. Send us Fan Mail

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