This episode is a supplementary full interview with Dr Mike Joy and Dr Milena Bojovic from Episode 5 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we explore how New Zealand’s dairy industry links local landscapes to global extraction, ecological harm, and the wider machinery of food imperialism.

New Zealand’s image of clean, green pastures hides one of the world’s most intensive dairy industries. Behind each glass of milk there is a hidden web of global extraction: phosphate mined from occupied Western Sahara, palm kernel imported from deforested Southeast Asia, and polluted rivers flowing through Māori ancestral lands. This episode traces how New Zealand’s dairy boom reshapes both local ecosystems and distant economies, from illegally occupied territories in West Africa to political power in New Zealand. Through the story of “white gold”, we uncover how even the purest landscapes are bound into the machinery of food imperialism.

We discuss the environmentally destructive and geopolitically fraught supply chains connecting intensive dairy production in Aotearoa New Zealand with phosphate mining in the illegally occupied territory of Western Sahara as well as palm kernel from South-East Asia in cattle feed. Freshwater ecologist Dr Mike Joy and Geographer Dr Milena Bojovic detail how New Zealand’s export-driven commodity model creates intense global market pressures for corporate profit and high-yield volume. Mike exposes the catastrophic local consequences of this system, explaining how excessive synthetic nitrogen and fertiliser inputs poison rivers, disrupt aquatic ecosystems, and contaminate drinking water. Milena, meanwhile, unpacks the structural traps that force farmers into continual intensification, which in turn fuels dependence on rare, internationally contested mineral resources. 

Resources from this interview:

• https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/pq/article/view/9629/8507
• https://people.wgtn.ac.nz/mike.joy 

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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This episode is a supplementary full interview with María Alonso Martínez from Episode 4 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we explore the human and environmental costs of the fishmeal and fish oil industry that has decimated fisheries in West Africa in the name of supplying aquaculture feed and cheap, year-round fish.

What connects salmon farming in northern Europe with tomato farming in southern Spain? These two, seemingly distinct food supply chains ensure that our supermarket shelves are stocked with cheap, year-round food. What we don’t see, however, are the hidden links - the overfishing along the coast of West Africa that destroys local communities’ livelihoods and drives migration to Europe; the dangerous journeys by small boat where 1 in 5 people die; the entrapment of migrants arriving in exploitative agricultural labour in Spain’s intensive greenhouses. This interview examines the story of salmon farming - and highlights the hidden costs of this highly commodified food.

Researcher María Alonso Martínez reveals the environmental and social costs of the vast plastic-covered greenhouses in south-east Spain that produce much of Europe’s winter veg. She discusses the exploitation of a vast labour force of migrants who make the perilous journeys from West and North Africa, often dangerous, multi-day trips by small boat. On arrival, many of them work as undocumented migrant labourers, toiling under inhumane conditions within Almería’s vast "Sea of Plastic" to harvest the cheap winter vegetables that stock European supermarket shelves.

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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This episode is a supplementary full interview with Dr Aliou Ba from Episode 4 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we explore the human and environmental costs of the fishmeal and fish oil industry that has decimated fisheries in West Africa in the name of supplying aquaculture feed and cheap, year-round fish.

What connects salmon farming in northern Europe with tomato farming in southern Spain? These two, seemingly distinct food supply chains ensure that our supermarket shelves are stocked with cheap, year-round food. What we don’t see, however, are the hidden links - the overfishing along the coast of West Africa that destroys local communities’ livelihoods and drives migration to Europe; the dangerous journeys by small boat where 1 in 5 people die; the entrapment of migrants arriving in exploitative agricultural labour in Spain’s intensive greenhouses. This interview examines the story of salmon farming - and highlights the hidden costs of this highly commodified food.

Dr Aliou Ba of Greenpeace Africa details how this industrial plundering has collapsed local artisanal fisheries and triggered a profound food security crisis in Senegal. This environmental degradation ultimately forces thousands of displaced West Africans to undertake a perilous sea voyage to Spain. 

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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This episode is a supplementary full interview with Hazel Healy and Brigitte Wear from Episode 4 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we explore the human and environmental costs of the fishmeal and fish oil industry that has decimated fisheries in West Africa in the name of supplying aquaculture feed and cheap, year-round fish.

What connects salmon farming in northern Europe with tomato farming in southern Spain? These two, seemingly distinct food supply chains ensure that our supermarket shelves are stocked with cheap, year-round food. What we don’t see, however, are the hidden links - the overfishing along the coast of West Africa that destroys local communities’ livelihoods and drives migration to Europe; the dangerous journeys by small boat where 1 in 5 people die; the entrapment of migrants arriving in exploitative agricultural labour in Spain’s intensive greenhouses. This interview examines the story of salmon farming - and highlights the hidden costs of this highly commodified food.

Hazel and Brigitte expose the ecological crises, corporate opacity, and false sustainability narratives surrounding aquaculture and the challenges that face journalists investigating supply chain transparency.

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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This episode is a supplementary full interview with Simen Sætre from Episode 4 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we explore the hidden impacts of salmon farming in northern Europe, revealing the human and environmental costs behind cheap, year-round food.

What connects salmon farming in northern Europe with tomato farming in southern Spain? These two, seemingly distinct food supply chains ensure that our supermarket shelves are stocked with cheap, year-round food. What we don’t see, however, are the hidden links - the overfishing along the coast of West Africa that destroys local communities’ livelihoods and drives migration to Europe; the dangerous journeys by small boat where 1 in 5 people die; the entrapment of migrants arriving in exploitative agricultural labour in Spain’s intensive greenhouses. This interview examines the story of salmon farming - and highlights the hidden costs of this highly commodified food.

Simen uncovers the destructive, interconnected global supply chains linking northern European salmon aquaculture to the overexploitation of West African artisanal fisheries. He traces how the booming Norwegian salmon farming industry relies heavily on wild-caught ocean feed extracted from West Africa, exposing the ecological crises, corporate opacity, and false sustainability narratives surrounding salmon aquaculture.

Resources from this interview:

• https://norla.no/en/books/1286-the-new-fish-the-global-history-of-salmon-farming
• https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/735421/the-new-fish-by-simen-saetre-and-kjetil-ostli/

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This episode is a supplementary full interview with Professor Helena Varkkey from Episode 3 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we trace the global impact of the palm oil industry from its indigenous roots to modern supply chains. 

Dr Helena Varkkey then unpacks the political economy of Malaysian production, exposing how entrenched relationships between political elites and conglomerates shield the industry from regulation. Helena critiques the effectiveness of voluntary sustainability certification schemes like the RSPO and debates whether palm oil can ever be truly sustainable at scale.

Resources from this interview:

• https://seapeat.wixsite.com/home
• https://cgsea.org/
• https://umexpert.um.edu.my/helenav

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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This episode is a supplementary full interview with Farwiza Farhan from Episode 3 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we trace the global impact of the palm oil industry from its indigenous roots to modern supply chains. 

Farwiza Farhan brings a frontline conservation perspective from Indonesia, documenting how government-incentivised monoculture plantations drive deforestation, threaten endangered species, and violate Indigenous land rights. Farwiza debates whether palm oil can ever be truly sustainable at scale, and highlights the efforts of local communities fighting back against corporate food imperialism.

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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This episode is a supplementary full interview with Associate Professor Jonathan Robins from Episode 3 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we trace the global impact of the palm oil industry from its indigenous roots to modern supply chains. 

Dr Jonathan Robins opens by detailing the pre-colonial history of oil palm in West Africa and explaining how European empires weaponised the crop to fuel the Industrial Revolution, establishing structural patterns that mirror today’s agribusiness models. 

Resources from this interview:

• https://www.mtu.edu/social-sciences/department/faculty/robins/
• https://commoditiesofempire.org.uk/about/jonathan-robins/
• https://theconversation.com/profiles/jonathan-e-robins-1227071

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This episode is a supplementary full interview with Professor Jennifer Clapp from Episode 2 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we explore how an increasingly monopolised system of multinational corporations operates as de facto states within the global food system, exercising power over land, labour, trade, and policy in ways that rival or exceed nation-states.

If empires once flew flags, today they file annual reports. This episode examines how large agrifood corporations increasingly function as sovereign actors within global food systems. From controlling vast transnational supply chains and shaping trade rules, to influencing national policy and disciplining labour across borders, corporations now wield powers historically associated with states. Focusing on agribusiness, food traders, and retailers, the episode asks how corporate concentration has reconfigured food imperialism, turning companies into the new “nations” of food empires, and what this means for accountability, democracy, and food sovereignty.

Professor Jennifer Clapp highlights how mega-mergers in the agricultural inputs sector allow a small cartel to exercise immense structural power, locking in an industrial model that dictates what society views as "normal" food practices, while trapping countries in the Global South in dependency loops that prioritise luxury exports over local food security. Despite the immense political and economic inertia behind this consolidation, we close with a message of hope, emphasising that because this extractive system was constructed by humans, it can be dismantled through active political engagement and collective action.

Resources from this interview:

• https://uwaterloo.ca/scholar/jclapp/home
• https://ipes-food.org/people/jennifer-clapp/
• https://uwaterloo.ca/environment-resources-and-sustainability/profiles/jennifer-clapp

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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This episode is a supplementary full interview with Professor Phil Howard from Episode 2 of the Edible Empire podcast series.

Here, we explore how an increasingly monopolised system of multinational corporations operates as de facto states within the global food system, exercising power over land, labour, trade, and policy in ways that rival or exceed nation-states.

If empires once flew flags, today they file annual reports. This episode examines how large agrifood corporations increasingly function as sovereign actors within global food systems. From controlling vast transnational supply chains and shaping trade rules, to influencing national policy and disciplining labour across borders, corporations now wield powers historically associated with states. Focusing on agribusiness, food traders, and retailers, the episode asks how corporate concentration has reconfigured food imperialism, turning companies into the new “nations” of food empires, and what this means for accountability, democracy, and food sovereignty.

Professor Phil Howard unpacks how intense corporate concentration has transformed global agriculture into a system dominated by a few powerful transnational firms that operate much like sovereign states. Using the analogy of an hourglass, Phil illustrates how millions of farmers and billions of consumers are squeezed through a dangerously narrow bottleneck controlled by these massive agribusinesses, which deploy specific power plays to manipulate trade rules, capture government subsidies, and avoid accountability for environmental and labour exploitation. Despite the immense political and economic inertia behind this consolidation, we close with a message of hope, emphasising that because this extractive system was constructed by humans, it can be dismantled through active political engagement and collective action.

Resources from this interview:

• https://philhoward.net/ 
• https://ipes-food.org/people/phil-howard/ 

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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This episode is a supplementary full interview with Professor Harriet Friedmann from Episode 1 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we explore how global food systems are shaped by historical power structures and capitalist mechanisms that prioritise corporate profit and "cheap food" over the health of ecosystems and human communities.

Where does our food come from? Who works in the fields that produce our fruit and vegetables? Who is making profit from the food we eat? This episode sets the scene for the series, introducing the concept of food supply chains—the intricate trade routes that keep supermarket shelves stocked with produce all year round. But how did these global networks come to be? Tracing the history of our globalised food systems, we uncover why our food systems look the way they do today. 

Professor Harriet Friedmann begins by tracing how global power shifted from a British-led system to one dominated by the US dollar. She explains that this change transformed how the world eats, replacing diverse, sustainable local farming with industrial monocultures like wheat and palm oil. This shift prioritised international profit over local cultures and environmental health.

Resources from this interview:

• https://harrietfriedmann.ca 
• https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Harriet-Friedmann
• https://www.sociology.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/harriet-friedmann

To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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