ASH CLOUD

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...

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 food...

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 emiss...

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, lim...

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 j...

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...

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 ma...

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 an...

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 actuall...

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...

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...

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 opportn...

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...

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 cl...

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...

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 rece...

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...

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...

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 acknowled...

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...

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...

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...

The security communities around the world  including European, UK, US, and Australia have all recognized climate change as a National Security threat with climate change not being necessarily a direct cause of conflict but compounding the risks of conflict. The impact of climate change on food and water security is a key component of this increased threat.  Neil Morisetti   leads efforts to develo...

There are currently 350 million people globally living with extreme hunger, with a plus 2°C rise in global temperatures this is forecast to rise to 539 million people, and with a plus 4°C temperature rise it is predicted that 2.1 billion people worldwide will be living with extreme hunger. Failing to adequately address this rise in extreme hunger will be a growing national security and global secu...

 This  episode of Ash Cloud is brought to you in partnership with CSIRO . Proteins play many critical roles in our bodies, and in the plants, animals, fungi and microbes that are our source of food and nutrition. Disease, brain function, appetite, movement, allergies, and thousands of other metabolic process all require proteins. This is  in addition to the need for protein to build and maintain ...