E36: Why Lab-Grown Food Won’t Save Us

A conversation with Chris Smaje on why lab-grown food won't solve our problems—and why local, ecological farming is the real path forward.

👤 Guest Bio: Chris Smaje
Chris Smaje is a UK-based social scientist, writer, and small-scale farmer with two decades of hands-on agricultural experience. He’s a leading advocate for agroecology and local food systems, and author of A Small Farm Future and Saying No to a Farm-Free Future.

🧠 Topics Discussed

• What is “precision fermentation” and why it's gaining traction
• The rise of lab-grown protein vs. traditional farming
• The myth of land-free food and its corporate backers
• Energy inputs, ecological tradeoffs, and food monopolies
• The geopolitical unraveling of the global food trade
• The cultural disconnect caused by synthetic food
• Why local food production is a necessary response to climate and economic disruption
• Progress, politics, populism, and what comes after globalism

💬 Top Quotes

“We're being told food is software—but sunlight is still free. Manufactured food isn't.”

“If you move people off the land and into cities, you're not solving ecological problems—you're centralizing control.”

“The problem isn't farming—it's how we farm and who controls it.”

“Progress isn’t spending more time on your phone. It’s being part of a thriving community and growing your own food.”

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
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Thanks for listening!