Welcome to Zero. I'm Akshadrati.

This week, microbial protein, the end of farming, and really stinky cheese.

Every year our food system does something amazing.

We produce enough food for 8 billion people and then some. And although

millions still go underfed, the level of hunger in the world is much lower than in

all of human history. It's a remarkable feat when put in its historical context.

Meanwhile India's food problems continue to create widespread concern, a

countryside on the very edge of starvation.

Back in the 1960s, widespread famine was averted by the Green Revolution, a transfer of agricultural

technology to developing countries that massively increased farming yields across Asia and South America,

and lifted hundreds of millions out of hunger and poverty.

The population in the 1960s was just 3 billion.

We're now at 8 billion people and still our food system has managed to keep up.

In 2019, the production of primary crops, things like cereals, fruits, vegetables,

reached 9.4 billion tons globally.

That's 50% more than in the year 2000.

But all that food production comes at an enormous cost.

Agriculture is a major driver of global greenhouse gas emissions and almost 40% of the Earth's

surface is used for farming.

That's something that my guest today, environmental journalist and campaigner George Monbio,

argues is a disaster for our planet. The crucial environmental commodity which we should be

paying more attention to than any other environmental metric is land.

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