FAO Podcasts

In this special episode, Chief Economist Maximo Torero and David Laborde, Director of the Agrifood Economics and Policy Division, unpack the key findings of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2026. 

Global hunger has declined for the third consecutive year, but progress remains uneven across regions and is fragile. Meanwhile, a healthy diet is 25% more expensive than it was five years ago, and one third of the world's population cannot afford it. 

The episode examines the structural factors driving the cost of healthy diets in different regions and how compound risks can affect their cost. It discusses how social protection, including school feeding programs, and investments in agrifood systems and trade can help make nutritious foods more accessible for everyone.  

SOFI 2026: Understanding and Addressing the High Cost of a Healthy Diet 

Transcript: https://www.fao.org/media/docs/aboutfaolibraries/transcripts/sofi-2026-transcript_260721.pdf 

00:00 Intro   

01:05 Key statistics   

03:15 The cost of healthy diets   

06:45 Regional differences    

09:10 The role of trade and region-specific interventions 

11:05 Quinoa example  

12:16 Africa's progress and challenges 

20:22 Compound risks and building resilience

Global food markets are facing increasing pressure from conflict, climate extremes, economic uncertainty, and supply chain disruptions. Yet despite these shocks, global food markets often recover quickly and regain their equilibrium. But the resulting food price spikes can have severe consequences for food security, underscoring the importance of international cooperation. 

  

In this episode of The Work We Do, we speak with FAO Senior Economist George Rapsomanikis and Economist Andrea Zimmermann about The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO) 2026. They examine how shocks affect food trade and its implications for food security, what makes global markets resilient, and why international cooperation matters more than ever. 

  

1:40 Are there more shocks? 

4:04 Different types of shocks 

7:19 Characteristics of resilient markets 

9:12 Can markets absorb shocks? 

14:15 Ukraine, Hormuz, and trade risks 

16:11 How fast does market recover? 

20:20 Why food prices remain volatile 

21:59 The role of policy and international cooperation 

25:07 How can countries build resilience 

26:26 Takeaway 

 

  

The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO) 2026 report:  https://doi.org/10.4060/ce0337en

The Strait of Hormuz crisis is disrupting global energy and fertilizer markets. For the hundreds of millions already living in extreme poverty, the effects could be severe. In this episode, Ben Davis, Director of FAO's Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division, and Marco Knowles, Senior Policy Officer in the same division, make the case for social protection as a more effective response than the costly subsidies that governments are reaching for.  

They challenge the idea that cash transfers are handouts, drawing on rigorous evidence showing that rural households invest them productively in agricultural inputs, education, and local economies. And they explain why targeted social assistance outperforms subsidies in both efficiency and reach.  Policy brief: The role of social protection in addressing the impacts of the 2026 conflict in the Middle East – Implications for poverty, food security and smallholder production https://doi.org/10.4060/cd9363en  

0:00 Introduction 0:36 Why social protection is urgent now 2:54 Why social protection systems must exist before crises 6:47 Cash transfers are investments 11:37 Social protection vs subsidies 17:44 The politics of cash transfers 25:18 Lessons from COVID-19 28:36 How to finance social protection 31:26 What countries should do now 33:31 Social protection beyond shock response 36:01 Country examples 39:05 What success could look like in 10 years

In this episode of The Work We Do, we speak with Manuel Barange, FAO Assistant Director-General and Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, about the realities behind fisheries, aquaculture and the future of aquatic foods.i 

Manuel breaks down the latest findings from The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2026, including the growing role of aquatic foods in global nutrition and food security, and discusses sustainability, fisheries management and how scientists measure fish stocks that cannot be directly counted. 

He also reflects on his career, from marine biologist and scientific observer at sea to senior leader at FAO, and shares his advice for young professionals entering the sector.  Host :Katrin Park Produced by Eduardo De La Chica Copyright: FAO 
 

00:00 Introduction 

00:59 Are we running out of fish? 

06:13 How fisheries are measured and managed 

15:19 Sustainability, overexploitation and fish stocks 

21:30 Fighting illegal fishing through the Port State Measures Agreement 

31:19 Key findings from The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 

35:06 Aquaculture, Blue Transformation and the future of aquatic foods 

48:34 Manuel's career and advice for young professionals

Sarah Cahill is the Secretary of Codex Alimentarius, the international body that develops the food standards behind much of what we eat, how it is labelled, and how it moves across borders.
In this episode of The Work We Do, Sarah joins us in the Situation Room to discuss the past, present and future of Codex.
We explore how Codex helped countries come together around scientific evidence to protect consumers, reduce foodborne risks and build trust in global food trade. Its work may be invisible to most people, but it sits behind everyday decisions: what appears on a food label, how contaminants are controlled, how additives are assessed, how hygiene rules are applied, and how countries agree that food is safe to trade.
Katrin and Sarah also discuss the difficult process of reaching agreement between countries, why some standards take years to develop, and how science helps create common ground in a world of different regulations, risks and food systems.
Finally, Sarah looks to the future: a warming planet, changing food safety hazards, water scarcity, seaweed, cell-based foods and the new questions regulators will need to answer.
A conversation about the quiet global work that helps keep food safe, and why it shapes our lives more than we realise.