What's for Dinner? Exploring Food Production with Jill Griffiths

Are we aware of where our food comes from? What about the subtle complexities in our food production systems? Join us as we get a fresh perspective on this and more from Jill Griffiths, a science writer, journalist, and author. 

Her recently launched book, "What's for Dinner?", dives into how our food is grown and our role as food-eaters. With a mix of science, history, and personal stories, she takes us on a fascinating journey to meet the plants, animals, and people who make our meals possible. 

But what inspired Jill to write this book in the first place?

"I've been a science writer in ag and environment for a long time and, before that, I studied biology and journalism. I grew up in the country and then lived a lot of my life in the city, so I came to the whole question of "food and farming" from various viewpoints. What I was hearing from researchers and farmers didn't always match up with what I was hearing in the public discourse and from my city-based friends. So I went looking for where the answers to some of those questions lay."

Jill says it was an eye-opening journey that gave her access to unique people and places she otherwise might not have experienced.  And what did Jill discover?

Well, firstly, our food supply isn't as diverse as you might think. Jill shines a spotlight on how limited our choices are.  We rely heavily on just a few species for our meals.

"75% of the world's food comes from 12 species of plant and five species of animal. But within those species, there's a narrow range of breeds. 90% of the dairy herd in Australia are Holstein Friesian. So, from that one species, not even the whole genetic range of that species is present in our food chain. I'm not sure that that's a good point."

Mark and Jill also cover the nutrient density of food.

"We often hear that that modern food is lower in nutrient density and there's a grain of truth in that," says Jill. "The grain of truth is that in increasing yield, we have increased water and starch content, so there is a dilution factor that happens with minerals and nutrients as starch and water increase." But, Jill explains there is so much variation during a season that the argument of modern food being less nutrient dense "just gets shot in the water really quickly."

And finally, we cover the 'eat local’ slogan - and it’s not as simple as it sounds. 

"It's a difficult thing to sit in an agricultural exporting country, as you and I both are, and say we should all eat local because our farmers rely on us exporting a certain amount of agricultural products, so the people that are eating that aren't eating local." 

Beyond sourcing and eating, we also confront the reality of food insecurity. By the end of this conversation, you’ll be left with a deeper understanding of the agricultural industry and the importance of knowing our food sources, and you'll never look at a can of tomatoes the same way again! 

We are launching OptiEwe, a one-on-one consulting service for commercial sheep farmers, and want your input. Please take this quick survey to share your preferences on focus groups:
CLICK HERE

Head Shepherd is brought to you by neXtgen Agri International Limited
Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out Heiniger's product range HERE
Check out the MSD range HERE
Check out Allflex products HERE