WEBVTT - Can We Feed 10 Billion? 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.560 Guess what, mango? What's that? Will? So I don't want 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:07.160 to stereotype, but that's right, stereotype alert. Now. I don't 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:09.240 know if you've noticed this, but the writers we've hired 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.840 who grew up on farms always have this amazing work ethic, 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:15.159 Like they all seem to get up early and just 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:19.439 crank out work, whatever the circumstance. They don't miss deadline. Yeah, 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:21.600 it's true. One of my favorite teachers in high school 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:23.079 grow up on a farm too, and he used to 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:25.640 sing the virtues of what farming teaches you growing up, 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:27.400 and he was the same way. He was like off 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:30.040 at a crack of dawn and just so focused. Yes. 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:31.880 So I was looking this up and there's actually this 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.920 great story from Iowa about the origin of Highway six 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:37.840 or whether it's predecessor, called the River to River Road, 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.040 and it went across the state. Now, apparently, on June 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:46.120 nineteen ten, ten thousand farmers and some volunteers started working 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:48.360 on building this road at nine am. Do you know 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:50.199 how long it took him to finish? I don't know, 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:54.280 like a month, one hour. It took the farmers one hour. 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:57.800 By ten am they were completely done. It almost feels 0:00:57.840 --> 0:00:59.960 like that movie Dave. Do you remember this? So there's 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.040 this scene where they give the job of balancing the 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:05.399 congressional budget to a hard working, honest accountant and he 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:09.120 balances the budget in one night. It's that level. If 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.319 you ask a ragtag group of farmers to build you 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:14.000 a highway the width of the entire US state, they'll 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.679 have it done in an hours. I know, and I realized. 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.679 I got this story from the Root six Tourists Association website, 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:23.560 and it may be apocryphal, but it made me wonder. 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:26.160 If farmers work as hard as they're known to, and 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.039 if the science of farming is only getting better, then 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:31.800 why are people across the globe still going hungry? And 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.360 what will it take to actually feed the world. That's 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:56.240 our big question today. Yeah, hey, their podcast listeners, welcome 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:58.559 to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:01.000 I'm joined by my good friend Man Guesh Ticketer. In 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.320 today's show, we're talking about what it will take to 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.200 feed the world, scientists playing by the year of two 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:09.840 thousand and fifty, the population will be at ten billion people. 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:12.600 That's a ton of people and a lot of hungry 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:14.600 mouths to feed. So we're going to try to answer 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:16.560 that big question, and along the way, we've got an 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:20.399 incredible guest, William McCaskill, a professor of philosophy at Oxford 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:23.800 and the founder of Effective Altruism. Yeah, he's amazing. He 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:27.160 essentially invented moneyball for charity, which sounds like a marriage 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:29.040 of two things that aren't supposed to go together. It's 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:30.520 like one of those pitches you hear from an off 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:32.760 brand shark tank and you know it's it's like uber 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:36.640 but for gymnastics. But his work is really awesome. And 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.000 we've got another nerd hero on today as well. Right, Yeah, 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.200 that's right. We've got Josh Miller from farm Shots and 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:45.640 he invented this program in college and it's pretty incredible, wonderful. So, Mango, 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:47.080 I've got to tell you, I'm going to start with 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.000 the fact that's going to disappoint you. Oh yeah, what's that? Well, 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:52.160 because today's big question is about how we're going to 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:54.200 feed the world. One of the first things I looked 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.119 up was what we can do to be more responsible 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:58.600 with our food choices. I do not like where this 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.480 guy I know and scientists have this list of eleven 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:04.720 things we should rethink eating. The usual suspects are all 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:07.120 on there, like beef, which always gets knocked because of 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:10.280 the amount of land and water that goes into raising cattle. Sure, 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:12.600 like that's a big vegetarian battle cry, how the land 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:14.400 could be better used to grow other things, and that 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:17.880 a kilogram of beef takes like twenty times more water 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:20.440 than growing grains, which is sort of true. It takes 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.160 three times more water to grow beef than raising chickens, 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:25.760 and according to new scientists, you could provide ten to 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.360 twenty times the protein if that land was used to 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.760 plant legumes. But that isn't what's interesting. Beef is at 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:33.320 the top of the list. Then there are things like 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:35.600 nuts and chocolate because they suck up a lot of 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:39.200 water and resource. But additionally, there are two things I 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:43.160 know you love. What's that coffee and you're ready for it? 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:47.560 Fry French fries. Yeah, French fries shouldn't be on that list. 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:49.240 I knew you were going to be happy about this. 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:51.800 For you listeners out there, Mango as a vegetarian in college, 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:54.800 which pretty much meant about eight of his diet was fries. 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:57.400 I really want to say it was because there weren't 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:00.000 enough vegetarian options. But the truth is I just really 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.800 love fries. They're delicious. I don't know if I ever 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:04.520 told you this, but when I was ten or eleven, 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:06.360 we had to do one of those exercises in math 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:08.160 class where we did a budget for when we were 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:10.920 grown up, and so we were handed out salaries, I 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:13.520 mean hunted for apartments, and we budgeted for things like 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:17.440 toilet paper and household supplies using coupons, and we also 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:19.599 had to plan out a menu, and I remember thinking 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.240 food is a great place to save. So I just 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:24.720 decided to stock my fridge with French fries and frozen 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.680 burritos and pizzas from Sam's Club getting hungry. And the 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:30.719 whole idea was just to spend like a hundred fifty 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.640 dollars a month on food. And when my teacher inspected 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:35.279 it and asked me if I wanted to revise it, 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:39.120 I was like, nah, I'm good. I was just supremely 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:41.320 confident that a plate of fries for dinner every night 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:44.720 wasn't just tasty, it was sensible. Makes sense to me. 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:46.599 I mean, can you imagine if we had to commit 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.040 to our clothing and food choices for life at age 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:52.000 and about how terrible we'd look and feel. We're probably 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:54.560 wearing umbros and hyper colored shirts to work every day 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.000 and eating nothing but bags of gummy bears. I know, 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.080 but I still don't get what French fries are so 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:01.240 bad for the earth? I mean, and coffee, I can 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:03.080 see that. Like a while back, I read this thing 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.719 that growing tea takes up more land, but coffee is 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:08.279 a much more difficult crop to rays. That's right. For 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:10.559 every single cup of coffee you drink, it takes five 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:13.280 hundred and fifty cups of water. Can you believe that? 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:15.760 I can't, which is why I only drink diet mountain dew. 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:18.080 It's a very principal decision I made a long time ago. 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:20.880 But fries around the list because of food waste. As 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:23.080 a French fried connoisseur, you probably already know this, but 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.400 apparently French fries don't taste good when they're cold. Yeah. 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:28.000 My wife and I do this thing where we guess 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:30.159 how long it will take for a fast food fry 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:32.800 to go from like hot and crispy and totally delicious 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:36.160 to completely limb. And it's stunning how fast it can 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:39.159 transform into something totally unappealing. I like that, this is 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:42.440 the thing you guys actively do. It's also crazy how 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:44.560 many fries are thrown out because they aren't good after 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.520 ten to fifteen minutes. So in the UK, New Scientists 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:50.400 reports that fries or chips as they call them, account 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.599 for ten percent of all food waste, but the potatoes 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:56.120 are only part of it. Fried foods in general are 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:58.680 considered wasteful because of all the oils and fats that 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.560 go into frying up all the deliciousness. So if we 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:03.880 use the land for veggies instead, it would be a 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:06.479 better source of calories for the population, Which is like 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.200 a total Sophie's choice for me, choosing between eating French 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:11.800 fries and saving the world. You can't do that to me. Well, 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.800 I'm so sorry, But let's back up for a second. 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:17.320 What actually is the state of world hunger? I mean, 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.720 there's so many different things written up about this that's 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:21.760 kind of hard to keep up. And part of what's 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.360 confusing to me is that I recently read we currently 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.080 produce enough food to feed everyone in the world. Well, 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.960 those things aren't mutually exclusive. So close to a billion 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:33.039 people go to sleep hungry every night, which is heartbreaking, 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:35.840 And in two thousand fifteen, the Food and Agriculture Arm 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:37.760 of the u N showed that there were seven hundred 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:41.600 nine million under nourished people in the world. And while 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:43.880 over the past couple of decades we've started to see 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:46.599 the numbers drop on that, you have to imagine that 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:48.560 this could get worse if we don't start to get 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:51.160 a real handle on this. But you're right, there actually 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.640 is enough food to feed everyone. How's that. Well. Gordon Conway, 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:56.880 who's a fellow at the Royal Society and this heavily 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:01.600 respected agriculture ecologists, points out in his book One Billion Hungry, 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:03.680 if we were to add up all the world's production 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:06.640 of food and then divide it equally among the world's population, 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:10.400 every man, woman, and child would receive a daily average 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:14.160 of over twenty hundred calories. That's enough for a healthy lifestyle, 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.680 which is amazing. But on the other hand, it's not 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:20.000 like humans are great at sharing, Like, we're not vampire bats. 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:25.160 Vampire bats, Yeah they sound so blood thirsty, Well they 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.960 are blood, but they're also super considerate. Like if a 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.320 vampire bat has a couple of bad nights of feeding, 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:34.440 it can actually starve to death because the creatures roost 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.680 together if one bat notices that another is hungry, it'll 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:42.560 be a good roostmatee and regurgitate some food for it. Roostmates. 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:44.760 Such a great word. I like the idea of a 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:47.720 little bad advertising on Craigslist looking for three hundred other 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:51.560 roostmates to share one bedroom in Bushwick. So the vampire 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:54.560 bats aren't the only ones. I mean, humans are empathetic too, 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.680 and they do share food. There was that wonderful story 0:07:57.680 --> 0:07:59.640 of the man in Saudi Arabia who put a fridge 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:01.960 out on a sidewalk and then filled it with leftovers 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:04.800 for anyone to take. And that trend started to spread 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.400 across the Middle East of people stocking fridges on the 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:10.520 street with fresh water and food for anyone in need. 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:13.080 And there are those little food pantries that have popped 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:15.880 up in America and across the world. You know, people 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.520 do care. It's just that a lot of little food 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:20.680 pantries aren't going to add up to feeding a billion 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:24.400 hungry people. Sure, so being more thoughtful about how and 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:26.480 what we will be part of the solution, as we'll 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.520 be figuring out a better food distribution mechanism. But part 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:32.040 of the question too is what is it that's keeping 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:34.360 people hungry. And I think I have an answer for you. 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:38.360 So I've read some amazing research from Marthea Sen and 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.800 you know sends this Nobel Prize winning economists, and he 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:44.679 showed how famines aren't really caused by droughts or widespread 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:47.720 food shortages so much as the rooted in poverty. So 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:49.720 how so Well, when I first read that, I thought, 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:51.920 how can that be? I mean, a famine has to 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:55.040 be caused by droughts and crop devastation. But his point 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:57.960 is that statistically, if you look at these food crises, 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:00.480 there's little or no decline in the we're all food 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:03.520 supply in the greater region. Like he analyzed the famine 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.960 from nineteen three in Ethiopia where weather patterns caused a 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:10.280 small region of the country, this province called Wallow to 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:14.480 suffer and because the population was impoverished, their ability to 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.520 grow and purchase food was severely affected, but the overall 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:20.920 food production in the country wasn't substantially different from years before. 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.120 And he showed this over and over in other places, 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:27.280 including in Bengal and other countries where the diminished purchasing 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:29.920 power of wages was the root cause of starvation, not 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:33.440 overall food supply. In fact, there's this wonderful series called 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.680 Hungry Hungry Humans. Actually, do you remember the magazine Meat Paper, 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:40.160 Meat Paper, of course, so that beautiful indie magazine with 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:42.679 all those photographs of meat from a few years back, right, 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:44.880 I know, it's so good. I don't even like me 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.240 that much, but I loved looking through it. But one 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:50.080 of the former editors there, this Berkeley journalism professor named 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.560 Nathaniel Johnson. He spent six months investigating the food crisis 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:55.959 in a series called Hungry, Hungry Humans. And one of 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:58.640 the things he pointed out that Marthea Sen also says 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:01.040 is that one thing that can help curb of potential 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:04.360 famine is free press. And it's simply because in democracies, 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.440 politicians have to get reelected, and as long as someone 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:10.040 is shedding light on a food or economic problem is 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:12.360 going to get addressed before it becomes a total crisis. 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:14.480 But you have to imagine the internet and the spread 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.080 of mobile phones is also great for spreading that knowledge. 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.560 And you know, currently there's some amazing apps trying to 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:22.760 address the problem by connecting food donors with those in need. 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:25.320 But part of what's interesting to me is that a 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:28.600 little investment in infrastructure might also solve some of these problems. 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:31.800 We don't think about this, but roads and access to 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.800 villages and town centers actually play a big part in 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:38.080 bringing people out of poverty. Like Johnson interviewed a farmer 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.160 from Ethiopia who told him it takes her four hours 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:43.360 just to walk from her farm to the nearest town. 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:45.520 And his point is, can you imagine if you have 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:47.880 to walk four hours every time you need to get 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:51.720 seeds or fertilizer or anything to raise your crops. And 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.520 that's not even taking into account getting your food to market. 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:57.920 Just imagine how much time she's losing. So a good 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:00.440 paved road would ease her situation and helped her have 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.520 more of a successful farm. And there's hard evidence that 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.280 shows this bears out economically, Like there was a study 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:08.880 in India in the nineteen nineties that showed for every 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.520 million rupees that was spent on a road, which at 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:15.000 the time was like fifty dollars, eight hundred and eighty 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.520 one people were lifted out of poverty. And that's not 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:20.800 just them but their future generations. So what you're saying 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:23.360 is we just need to get like ten thousand farmers 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:26.520 from Iowa over to these remote locations across the globe 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:29.160 and get a few roads built in under an hour. Exactly. 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:31.880 It's that simple. But before we charter some planes and 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:34.760 launch our farmers without borders who adopt a highway program, 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:36.640 why don't we break for a quiz? Sounds good to 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:45.120 me for a quiz. Today, we've got Josh Miller on 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.560 the line, and Josh is a fascinating guy because he 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:50.240 created a company called farm Shots right out of his 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:53.560 dorm room. Josh, welcome to part time Genius. Hey, thanks 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.160 for having me. Now, Josh, you graduated in two thousand 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:59.079 and sixteen, so you're pretty fresh out of college. Tell 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:01.400 us a little bit about farm Shots and what inspired 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.880 you to create it. Yeah, so we got started. It 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:08.000 would have been the sophomore year I had at Duke, 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:10.120 So it's kind of I had of this love for 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:13.599 agriculture and I was studying engineering at the time. I 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:15.640 really wanted to find a way to put the two together, 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.080 and there wasn't really anything out there that kind of 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:22.520 did that, except for making tractors, which wasn't very exciting 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:27.240 and so and so, I uh, I went back and 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.040 I did some research and it turned out in the 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:33.280 sixties and seventies, there was a lot of research into 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:38.360 sensing vegetation, uh from half a days, particularly for finding 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:40.520 areas where there might be a disease or a bug 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:43.560 out of the farm. The problem was, back in the 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:46.720 sixties and seventies, there weren't really ano satellites for that 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.679 to be useful. Right, you got an imagine it was 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:53.240 really low resolution, maybe once a month. So if you 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:56.040 passed forward to when I was about to start the 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:58.880 company would have been around two thousand and fourteen. There 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:00.920 were all these kind thing is coming out of a 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:04.559 woodwork that you know, aboard Elon Musk's rockets, and all 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.040 these tiny rockets that we're going up to space. We're 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.719 putting these tiny, tiny satellites that are about as big 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:13.920 as your forearm in space. So all that research back 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:16.960 in the sixties and seventies and then be applied to 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:20.439 these hundreds and and almost a thousand new satellites have 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:25.160 gone into space since that research had happened. And so 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:27.160 I went out and I said, okay, you know, can 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.480 can we turn this Neohle product that actually helps farmers 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:32.719 um And it turned out we could, And I went 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.240 ahead and I built the first version of the software. Uh, 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:40.240 and I'm a terrible engineer, and so it was probably 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:43.680 the most awful, like you, piece of software exemplified. But 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:46.599 but these guys loved it, right, it made sense and 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:49.200 it was something that they wanted to buy. Um. And 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.360 if you fast forward to where we are today, you know, 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:55.840 three years later, Uh, the company's operating about thirty different countries. 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:01.520 We're on about ten million acres internationally, very significantly. That's 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:04.480 very cool. So so, Joshua, what keeps you optimistic about 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.920 the future and growing enough to to feed the world 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:10.280 as we're talking about today? Yeah, you know, it's it's 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:12.679 kind of funny because we talked about there's a good 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.760 amount of urban growth going on in places like the US, 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.080 where you have cities kind of expanding outwards and outwards, 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:22.720 which means more people. And at the same time, you know, 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:25.320 a lot of what's getting converted to this kind of 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:29.320 used land is farm land. Um. So the question is 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:32.800 you've got more people causing less farm land. How do 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:34.800 how do you kind of feed those sorts of people? 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:38.640 And so I think that's an ever pressing problem that's 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.600 going to go on for hundreds of years. Any ideas 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.560 you know, we've got to take a shrinking amount of 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.840 acridge and turn that into more food. And the homely 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:49.640 way you're gonna be able to really do something like 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:54.640 that is through applications of technology. M hm. We certainly 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:57.400 appreciate what you're doing with the business, and congratulations again 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:01.320 on on its success. So um, so, something equally important 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.840 is the quiz that we're playing today. Uh, Matt, mango. 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:07.920 What's what's our game that we're playing with Josh today? 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.400 It's called farm Raised where all the answers are people 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:16.680 or characters who grew up on farms. And what is 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:20.320 Josh playing for? As always our listeners playing for a 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.440 chance to win a handwritten note from us to his 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:27.160 mom or his boss, singing his praises. All right, so 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:28.920 this should be easy. What we will do is we 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.280 will give you a bit of pop culture and you 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:34.640 tell us which farm boy or girl we're talking about. Okay, 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:39.680 we've got five questions for you. The steaks are very high. Okay, 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:42.720 how many do I have to get? Right? Well, we'll see, 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.800 we'll see. We'll have to turn to the judges in 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:49.520 a bit. So um they are I'll go ahead and 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:53.480 warn you they are incredibly difficult questions. So let's see 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:57.200 what we can do, all right. Question number one. This 0:15:57.280 --> 0:15:59.720 superhero grew up on a farm in the town of 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.240 Malville and was raised by his adopted parents, Ma and 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:07.000 Paw Kent, who kept him away from Kryptonite. Who would 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:12.520 this be, Well, Superman, it's Clark Kent, alright, one for one. 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:18.200 Question number two. We'll see, we'll see. They may get harder, 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:22.080 so we're not alright, So here we go. This pop 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:24.400 star behind Shake It Off famously grew up on a 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:27.920 Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania. Also, at the two thousand 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:31.960 ten Grammy Awards, she won more Grammys four than Elvis 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:37.200 would ever win. Being three. Who was this artist Taylor Swift? Wow? 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:41.720 So smart? Alright? Question number three? This Civil War general 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:44.560 who later became president went into the military because he 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.960 was a terrible farmer. Also, he once got a speeding 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:51.520 ticket for traveling too fast on his horse. Who would 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:59.280 this be? Oh? Wow, um wow, Yes, I have a 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:00.760 feeling he knew that when it was just kind of 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:05.600 pausing for dramatic effects. I think that's right. Well, I 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:07.840 almost said Abraham Lincoln, and then I was like, oh wait, 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:13.399 that's question number four. This Star Wars hero grew up 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:16.760 separate from his twin sister on a moisture farm in Tattooing. 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:20.239 This was years before he would train with Yoda. Who 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:26.159 are we talking? Oh this is Skywalker. Yes for the 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:34.439 final question, you know, take your satellites to that. All right, 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:37.800 here we go question number five. This rancher's daughter grew 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:39.840 up to be the first woman on the U. S. 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.000 Supreme Court. While serving on the court, she used to 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:45.880 run a jazzer size class in the building for clerks. 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.520 Who was this? Oh? Wow, do I get like a lifeline? 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:53.000 Can he go? Five for five? First woman on the U. S. 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:59.640 Supreme Court? The first woman on the U Supreme Court? Uh? 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:02.159 Do I get that? So? I'm no life? Can't call 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:07.840 my mom? Uh? So the middle name would be the 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:16.359 opposite of night Daddy O'Connor. So tell tell us what 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:19.040 tell us what he wanted today, Mango, Because Joshua an 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:21.760 astounding five for five. In addition to this hen written 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:23.959 note we're sending him, we're also going to send him 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:26.680 a sender day O'Connor finger puppet, which is a collector's 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.520 item because it's the only sender day O'Connor finger puppet 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:33.399 we could find online. So congratulations Josh so much for 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:50.680 playing Gosh. Thank you. So before we get back to 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:52.760 this question of how to feed the world, I want 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:56.879 to talk about carrots mango, specifically baby carrot. Okay, so 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:59.159 here's the thing. You and I have basically grown up 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.320 with baby carrots, right, They've always been around and offered 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.720 as this nutritious option with lunches and whatever. But the 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:08.920 truth is there a pretty recent invention. According to the 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:11.119 Carrot Museum, which, as you know, is my go to 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:15.520 for all carrot related knowledge, this California farmer, Mike Eurosic 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:18.240 was throwing out a ton of his carrot crop because 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.240 they looked deformed. They were perfectly good, but because consumers 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:23.760 don't want to buy a gnarled carrot, farmers in the 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:26.680 eighties would regularly toss out about a third of their crop. 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:30.119 So Eurosi decided why not try to remarket this thing. 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:32.560 He took a peeler and trimmed down the carrots and 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:36.400 came up with two varieties, baby carrots, which obviously took off, 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:40.439 and bunny balls, which did not. Yeah, I think they 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:42.879 were supposed to look like cheese balls, but I pretty 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:44.920 sure they could have used the different name. And while 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:46.920 this took place in the eighties, my point is this 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.359 their innovations, both big and small, which can create less 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:53.600 food waste. Carving a cute character two out of a bigger, 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:56.600 uglier carrot is certainly one thing. But here's something that's 0:19:56.640 --> 0:20:00.320 even stranger. Scientists in Virginia Tech have figure down a 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:02.680 process to make the cob part of the corn on 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:06.520 the cob edible. Basically would turn all of that undigestible 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:09.760 cellulos into good starch, which would have the potential to 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:13.160 feed millions more people. That's so insane. Do you think 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:15.440 future generations will still eat corn the same way and 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:18.280 hold cobs horizontally like at a tradition or do you 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:20.480 think they'll start attacking it more like a banana. That's 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:25.200 a good question. Who knows. But here's another innovation. Apparently 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:27.359 scientists that Texas A and M figured out a way 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:30.280 to make cotton seed, which are currently poisonous, into an 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:34.040 edible product. And according to Scientific American, the proteins and 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:36.640 the cotton seed that are already being harvested every year 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:41.200 would be enough to feed five hundred million people. That's 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:44.000 that's just insane. So of the one billion people out 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:46.520 there going hungry right now, some crazy corn and cotton 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:48.520