Episode 6 of 6 – Doing things Differently The global food system faces serious problems – environmental, social and commercial. This six-part podcast series seeks to unravel these complex interrelationships asking how we can better align the interests of the environment, farmers, entrepreneurs and investors, allowing new agtech solutions to address these critical challenges. This episode examines our often-unquestioned assumptions about how the world works and how these are often the root of the problems we’re keen to address. We start by examining how the engineering mindset is ill suited the complexities of agriculture’s biological and economic systems, but how adding in systems thinking gives our good intentions a better chance to deliver change. We explore the assumptions built into economic models which give us damaging blind spots, and how collaboration, trust, risk and value creation need careful balancing to make true impact. Finally, we explore ideas for a different vision of entrepreneurship, more capable of creating sustainable interventions on the core, devilishly difficult challenges that agriculture and the food system faces. Featured in this Episode • Peter Herz, Food System 6 and 1st Course Capital • Brent Loken, WWF • Ben Honan, Climate KIC • Daniel Zimmer, Climate KIC • Sarah Mock, Author • Bethany Deshpande, SomaDetect • Vicki Saunders, SheEO • Kimberley Ansell, TeHono Further Reading The following resources are those I found helpful or were recommended by my interviewees Books (available at https://www.betterworldbooks.com) • The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C Mann • Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth • The Value of Everything by Mariana Mazzucato • The Dawn of Humanity by David Wengrow and David Graber • Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta • Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows • Dirt to Soil, Gabe Brown Online Resources: • https://crowdsourcingweek.com/blog/the-important-role-of-crowdfunding-for-agriculture/ • https://grist.org/business-technology/none-of-the-worlds-top-industries-would-be-profitable-if-they-paid-for-the-natural-capital-they-use/ • http://naturalcapitalcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Trucost-Nat-Cap-at-Risk-Final-Report-web.pdf