Why the Food System Is About to Collapse

In this episode of Deep Seed, we speak with Tim Benton, leading expert on global food security, to understand what’s driving the collapse of our food systems — and what it would take to build something truly regenerative.

🧠 In this episode:
– Why the current food system is fundamentally unsustainable
– What “planetary boundaries” means in practice
– The myth of green growth
– How our diets and farming systems must evolve
– The 3 “lock-ins” keeping us stuck
– What gives Tim Benton hope for the future

⏱ CHAPTERS
00:00 – Intro
01:13 – Meet Tim Benton
03:11 – Exponential Growth on a Finite Planet
09:10 – Can Technology Save Us?
12:35 – Planetary Boundaries
15:15 – Why the Food System is about to Break
24:50 – Can We Still Save it?
27:18 – SOIL CAPITAL
27:50 – How to Save the Food System
39:59 – Changing Our Diets - the Impact of Animal Agriculture
49:42 – It's Not the Cow, it's the How. But is it Really?
53:37 – Land Sparing vs Land Sharing
56:38 – The 3 Food System 'Lock-ins'
67:12 – The End of Capitalism
71:38 – Food Security
85:13 – What Gives Tim Hope for the Future
88:38 – A Question from Adele Jones
92:15 – A Question to Andrew Voysey

🎙️ Guest: Tim Benton
Professor of Ecology, former UK Food Security Champion, Chatham House expert on climate and geopolitics.

🔗 More about Tim:
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-benton-3b949227/
Research u0026 publications → https://biologicalsciences.leeds.ac.uk/school-of-biology/staff/28/prof-tim-benton

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🌿 This episode was made in partnership with SOIL CAPITAL - a company accelerating the transition to regenerative agriculture.
www.soilcapital.com

❤️ Huge thanks to Federica Urso who helped me bring this episode to life. She identified Tim as a 'dream speaker' for this topic, she did tons of research to help me prepare the interview, and she even helped me setting up the cameras and microphones on the day of recording.

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💌 Stay connected:
Email → [email protected]
Instagram → @deep_seed_podcast
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/deep-seed

#RegenerativeAgriculture #FoodSystem #ClimateChange #TimBenton #Agroecology