Improving the sustainability of agriculture extends far beyond the production of food, as farmers share the global challenges of climate change mitigation, increasing space for nature and protecting resources. In this episode of The Science Behind your Salad, we explore the sustainability of food, land and food packaging, as well as the role that cities play in creating sustainable food systems and how farming contributes to the sustainability of cities themselves.  

Improving the sustainability of agriculture extends far beyond the production of food, as farmers share the global challenges of climate change mitigation, increasing space for nature and protecting resources. In this episode of The Science Behind your Salad, we explore the sustainability of food, land and food packaging, as well as the role that cities play in creating sustainable food systems and how farming contributes to the sustainability of cities themselves.

The Science Behind Your Salad shines a spotlight on the innovation, technology, digital and sustainability for healthy food made by BASF in Agriculture.

The Science Behind Your Salad shines a spotlight on the innovation, technology, digital and sustainability for healthy food made by BASF in Agriculture.

The Science Behind Your Salad

Sustainable Agriculture

The wettest country in the world is Columbia, which receives over 3200 ml of rain annually and the driest nation, Egypt, receives just 18 ml. Agriculture uses around 70% of the world's freshwater, and irrigated farmland is crucial in delivering, on average, double the production of rainfed farming and 40% of the world’s total food production. Jane Craigie discovers how farmers, policymakers and land investors navigate water availability and rights, and how technology helps preserve every precious drop in times of shortage, while too much rain grinds everyday farming to a halt.

The wettest country in the world is Columbia, which receives over 3200 ml of rain annually and the driest nation, Egypt, receives just 18 ml. Agriculture uses around 70% of the world's freshwater, and irrigated farmland is crucial in delivering, on average, double the production of rainfed farming and 40% of the world’s total food production. Jane Craigie discovers how farmers, policymakers and land investors navigate water availability and rights, and how technology helps preserve every precious drop in times of shortage, while too much rain grinds everyday farming to a halt.

Water security

More than 3 billion cups of coffee are drunk every day but how did the bean inside a fruit become synonymous with kick starting our mornings with a caffeine hit to wake us up? Jane Craigie speaks to growers and traders who explore the history and culture of coffee and look to the future when the climate and growing conditions are looking likely to become more volatile. Jane discovers how coffee can be at the heart of social enterprises, empowering female workers and enabling communities to develop a social and economic infrastructure.

More than 3 billion cups of coffee are drunk every day but how did the bean inside a fruit become synonymous with kick starting our mornings with a caffeine hit to wake us up? Jane Craigie speaks to growers and traders who explore the history and culture of coffee and look to the future when the climate and growing conditions are looking likely to become more volatile. Jane discovers how coffee can be at the heart of social enterprises, empowering female workers and enabling communities to develop a social and economic infrastructure.

Coffee

Weeds are plants that are growing in the wrong place. Certain species can totally devastate farmers crops, resulting in huge losses of both productivity and income for the farmers. They can be the difference between survival and failure of a farm. But are they all bad?

Tom Radford is a forager who spends his life travelling around in his van making social media content on plants that are largely unknown but have amazing folklore attached. He talks us through some of the tastier edible species. Sledge Taylor farms cotton in Mississippi in the US; Guy Smith is an arable farmer in the Southeast of England.

Both are blighted by weeds that would, given the right conditions and without proper crop protection, put them out of business. Padma Commuri is one of the team of R&D at BASF whose job it is to strive to predict what species are coming down the line and how they will interact with a changing climate. It’s a bit of crystal ball gazing coupled with some scientific knowledge that will keep farmers in production and billions of mouths fed in the coming decades.

Weeds are plants that are growing in the wrong place. Certain species can totally devastate farmers crops, resulting in huge losses of both productivity and income for the farmers. They can be the difference between survival and failure of a farm. But are they all bad?
Tom Radford is a forager who spends his life travelling around in his van making social media content on plants that are largely unknown but have amazing folklore attached. He talks us through some of the tastier edible species. Sledge Taylor farms cotton in Mississippi in the US; Guy Smith is an arable farmer in the Southeast of England.
Both are blighted by weeds that would, given the right conditions and without proper crop protection, put them out of business. Padma Commuri is one of the team of R&amp;D at BASF whose job it is to strive to predict what species are coming down the line and how they will interact with a changing climate. It’s a bit of crystal ball gazing coupled with some scientific knowledge that will keep farmers in production and billions of mouths fed in the coming decades.

Sustainable Agriculture

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