The Sustainable Commodities Podcast

Hosts Barnaby Patchett and Judith Murdoch catch up on a whirlwind few weeks of back-to-back commodity conferences across the UK, giving their thoughts from events at Chester Zoo and in London. With no guests this week, it's a direct conversation between the co-hosts as they unpack the latest developments in forest risk commodities discussed at Sustainable Coconut Gathering Europe, Sustainable Palm...

In this special solo edition of the Sustainable Commodities Podcast, host Barnaby Patchett delivers an honest debrief on the FutureChain 2026 conference. Reflecting on the April event in London, Barnaby cuts through the corporate noise to examine the programme, and look at the hard economic truths driving the sector. Across both the Regenerative Agriculture and Raw Materials Risk tracks, the overr...

Welcome to a special FutureChain 2026 edition of the Sustainable Commodities - featuring six short interviews recorded live with expert panellists and delegates at the conference, which was held in London in April 2026. The interviews focus on strengthening ingredient supply chain resilience, taking a practical look at the challenges and opportunities within regenerative agriculture and raw materi...

On this edition of The Sustainable Commodities Podcast, hosts Barnaby Patchett and Judith Murdoch are joined by Reza Azmi, Executive Director of Wild Asia. Wild Asia is a Malaysian social enterprise that takes a profoundly different approach to sustainable palm oil. Reza and his team work directly with independent smallholder farmers to build trust, improve soil health and prove that sustainable a...

Welcome to the latest episode of the Sustainable Commodities Podcast! This week, hosts Barnaby Patchett and Judith Murdoch sit down with Alejandro Diaz, Landscape Finance Manager at Commonland. Commonland is an international NGO pioneering large-scale, long-term landscape restoration. Unlike traditional conservation efforts that focus solely on nature, Commonland treats landscapes as holistic syst...

Welcome to the latest episode of the Sustainable Commodities Podcast! This week, hosts Barnaby Patchett and Judith Murdoch sit down with a true palm oil industry heavyweight: Mark Wong, Head of Downstream Sustainability at SD Guthrie International (formerly Sime Darby). As the world's largest producer of certified sustainable palm oil, operating in over 90 countries, SD Guthrie is at the forefront...

Welcome to the first episode of the Sustainable Commodities Podcast for 2026! After a short break, hosts Barnaby Patchett and Judith Murdoch are back to tackle the pressing question facing businesses this year: What comes next? With the 2025 deforestation targets now in the rearview mirror, companies are under increasing pressure to demonstrate not just ambition, but tangible results. To help navi...

In this special end-of-year edition of The Sustainable Commodities Podcast, hosts Barnaby Patchett and Judith Murdoch look back at a chaotic 2025 and look ahead to what’s next. Fresh from a two-week trip to Malaysia, Judith shares some on-the-ground insights from the RSPO RT and the Malaysian Palm Oil Council tour. The duo then tackles the defining topic of the year: the EU Deforestation Regulatio...

Has the myopic focus on traceability hamstrung EUDR? How can we integrate nature and biodiversity into corporate policies? Will regenerative agriculture be the bedrock of future corporate action? With us to answer these questions is Neil Judd, Co-founder of Proforest, a global not-for-profit working to advance the sustainable production and sourcing of forest-risk commodities including palm o...

How do you make toothpaste more sustainable? Turns out there are some real challenges! In this episode, we’re talking about mint, palm oil and oleochemicals. Barnaby and Judith are joined by Ben Thornton Jones, former Director of Sustainable Supply at Haleon, the global consumer health company behind household brands like Aquafresh, Sensodyne, and Panadol. Ben offers a fascinating look into the co...

This week on the podcast, we’re talking deforestation, supply chain monitoring, the power and limitations of tech platforms and data, and why working in partnership with producers is the most effective way to drive positive change! To help us, we welcome Priscillia Moulin, Senior Advisor for Indonesian Environmental Non-Profit Earthqualizer Foundation, and Director of Strategy at MosaiX - a Europe...

Is palm oil really in 50% of packaged supermarket products? No – according to a new report published this week! On this edition, it’s time for some serious mythbusting on this often repeated claim! We sit down with Emily Meijaard from Borneo Futures, a scientific consultancy based in Brunei. Emily is the lead author on a new report, Does Palm Oil Really Rule The Supermarket? We discuss the finding...

A special mini-edition of the Sustainable Commodities Podcast, recorded live at the Regenerative Agriculture Summit Europe in September 2025. Host Barnaby Patchett sits down with Simon Kraemer, Executive Director of the European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture (EARA), an independent farmer-led coordination, advocacy and collective action organisation. We cover the challenges, solutions and l...

A special mini-edition of the Sustainable Commodities Podcast, recorded live at the Regenerative Agriculture Summit Europe in September 2025. In this episode, Barnaby speaks with former Carbon Farmer of the Year Douglas Christie. Doug, a farmer for over 35 years, shares his journey, as well as the many challenges, opportunities, benefits and downsides of regenerative farming – covering finance, so...

The latest mini-episode of the Sustainable Commodities Podcast, recorded live at the Regenerative Agriculture Summit Europe! Barnaby Patchett sit down with Carlotta Costa, Director of ESG at Dimitra, to unpack why technology and data are so important to the Regenerative Agriculture movement. Why is data so fundamentally important? Are credit systems actually any good? Does delaying EUDR make sense...

From farm to finance – how do we make it easier for farmers to access the financial rewards they need and deserve for investing in climate-positive practices? Jen Godderidge, from ATMO explains in the latest mini edition of the Sustainable Commodities Podcast – recorded live at Regenerative Agriculture Summit 2025. Hear more about some of the challenges around farmers, finance and fragmented data...

A special mini-edition of the podcast, recorded live at the Regenerative Agriculture Summit Europe 2025 with Robyn Cooper – Senior Manager, Regenerative Agriculture - CZ. We explore the Vive programme, as well as current challenges in scaling regenerative agriculture, and some solutions – with a focus on sugar. Look out for the other live interviews from the summit, and our special roundup episode...

A special edition of The Sustainable Commodities Podcast, and the first in a short series on The Regenerative Agriculture Summit Europe 2025, a conference held in Amsterdam, in September 2025. Barnaby provides a broad overview of the big themes of the conference and the current state of the regenerative agriculture space – covering finance, farmer-first approaches, scaling, harmonisation, collabor...

What is the state of the palm oil industry in 2025? Why do we need to improve current palm oil sourcing practices? How can we transition our approach to ensure a better deal for smallholders? Today on the podcast, we’re talking about palm oil – and specifically, the 2025 Palm Oil Barometer, a new report from Solidaridad. To help us, we’re joined by Marieke Leegwater from Solidaridad. Marieke is a...

What are the practical steps to improve biodiversity on oil palm plantations? What does the life of a palm oil smallholder really look like? What do palm oil smallholders in Indonesia think about EUDR and certification? Today on the podcast, we’re joined by Thijs Pasmans, a sustainability consultant who focuses on tropical commodities like palm oil and cocoa. We talk with Thijs about palm oil, bio...

Has timber been forgotten in the EUDR conversation? How is wood and paper packaging treated under EUDR? How good are the FSC and PEFC as certification schemes? This week, we’re joined by David Coleman, Chief Product Officer at Interu - a digital platform from IOV42 that helps enable regulatory compliance for complex supply chains. David brings his extensive experience in traceability systems and c...

How do we define regenerative agriculture, and how do we move beyond ambition to action? In this episode, we’re joined by Santiago Gowland, CEO of the Rainforest Alliance, about the upcoming launch of its new Regenerative Agriculture Certification Standard. Other topics covered include the challenges associated with defining Regenerative Agriculture, the past, present and future value of certifica...

How do we protect savannah and grasslands from land conversion? Will Trump derail EUDR? How can we support and protect smallholders in global sustainability efforts? This episode, we're joined by Vivian Ribeiro, Head of Consulting & R&D at AgTech innovators Meridia. Topics include land conversion beyond deforestation, the crucial role of grasslands, the potential impact of tariffs and US p...

What does the future look like for sustainably sourced forest commodities? In this episode, we welcome Neha Simlai, Head of Market Development for the Asia Pacific region at the Forest Stewardship Council - FSC. The FSC is the world’s leading commodity certification schemes that promotes responsible management of the world’s forests through certification. Topics covered include challenges facing s...

What is the Co-op doing around sustainable sourcing? Our first guest from a major retailer - Alistair Pattrick, sustainable sourcing manager at the Co-op, joins the podcast. We talk sustainability challenges, supply chain risks, deforestation, traceability, EUDR and what suppliers need to do in terms of sustainability if they want to work with the Co-op! Links Co-op One Nine Nine Murdoch Associate...