I had an engaging and thought-provoking conversation with Prof. Frédéric Leroy, a leading scholar in food science and biotechnology, about the future of sustainable food systems and the pivotal role livestock still plays.

We explored the tensions between aggressive climate and food policies, the push for plant-based diets, and the narratives promoted by groups such as the World Economic Forum and some environmentalist movements that envision a future without animals on the land.

Prof. Leroy shared insights into the promises and pitfalls of lab-based meat and precision fermentation, emphasising the nuanced realities and limitations that are often glossed over by high-level idealism.

Our discussion also touched on how these agendas intersect with predatory capitalism, the erosion of essential rights and freedoms, and what practical steps we can take to protect food sovereignty.

We delved into the Dublin Declaration, which highlights the irreplaceable value of livestock in global food systems, both nutritionally and culturally.This was not only an interview about science and policy, but also about values, freedom, and the future we want to shape together.

🔗 Links & Profiles

🕊️ X (Twitter): @fleroy1974

- Academic Profile (VUB – Research Portal):
https://researchportal.vub.be/en/persons/frederic-leroy

- Academic Profile (IMDO Faculty Page):
https://imdo.research.vub.be/en/prof-dr-ir-frederic-leroy

- ALEPH 2020 – Expert Profile:
https://www.aleph2020.org/experts/leroy-frederic

- EAAP Leroy Award 2022:
https://eaap.org/eaap-leroy-award-2022-to-prof-frederic-leroy/

- AMSA International Lectureship Award 2025:
https://meatscience.org/press/article/2025/03/14/renowned-food-scientist-fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric-leroy-announced-as-the-amsa-2025-international-lectureship-award-winner

- The Conversation – Author Page:
https://theconversation.com/profiles/frederic-leroy-659117Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tGuav7wAAAAJ

- ResearchGate:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frederic-Leroy

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🌍 Welcome! I’m on a mission to explore real-world solutions to global sustainability—with honesty, hope, curiosity, and a bit of dark humour. 😅🎙️ Interviews with FARMERS, SCIENTISTS, AUTHORS & ACTIVISTS—plus original content showing what sustainable living can look like. No preaching. No perfection. Just real talk. Sustainability for the many, not the few.🍽️ From HEALTHY FOOD to CLEAN WATER and DETOXING YOUR LIFE —this channel breaks it all down so you can live healthier, happier, and smarter. There's something for everyone here on the channel!✌️😎💡This is sustainability WITHOUT JUDGEMENT. I'm certainly no saint, and I don’t expect you to be either!💥🍀🇮🇪Based in Ireland. Thinking globally.🌎MY LIFE: Former SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT 🌍⚡🏠Former INVESTMENT MANAGER 💵📈💸MSc. in SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTS 🌿🌲♻️🚮Hons BSc. Degree in REAL ESTATE 🏘️🏠FARMING (helping my uncle) 👨‍🌾🐮🥩Former VEGETARIAN (20 yrs) 🥩🥦🍳🔔 Subscribe & join the wild journey!😆🤪 LINKS📸 Instagram: [@sustainabilityforsinners] (https://www.instagram.com/sustainabilityforsinners) 🎵 TikTok: [@sustainabilityforsinners](https://www.tiktok.com/@sustainabilityforsinners) 🎧 Spotify: [sustainabilityforsinners](https://open.spotify.com/show/sustainabilityforsinners) 🍏 Apple Podcasts: [sustainabilityforsinners](https://podcasts.apple.com/sustainabilityforsinners) 👤 About Me: [sustainabilityforsinners](https://about.me/sustainabilityforsinners)🕊️ X (Twitter): [@sustain4sinners](https://x.com/@sustain4sinners)

Elze van Hamelen is a Dutch investigative journalist whose work examines the power structures shaping agriculture, energy, and society.

With a background in corporate sustainability consulting (MA, MBA), she shifted into independent research and writing to focus on how financial, political, and technological systems intersect with food, farming, and freedom.

Her investigations explore topics such as the rise of “pharma food” and cellular agriculture, the impacts of industrial wind energy, UN and EU land-use policy, and the pressures facing Dutch farmers and fishermen. Through her reporting, she highlights the often unseen connections between global governance and everyday life — always drawing from documents, funding flows, and institutional analysis.Elze publishes in outlets including De Andere Krant and on her own Substack, where she shares articles, essays, and in-depth interviews.

She is widely recognised for her ability to connect high-level policy to its real-world consequences for communities on the ground.

📌 Selected Works / Focus Areas

- Pharma Food — critical reporting on lab-grown meat and cellular agriculture.

- The Wind Energy Racket — investigations into the externalities and hidden costs of industrial wind energy.

- Land & Food Policy — analyses of UN and EU strategies that affect farmland, fisheries, and local communities.

- Dutch Farmers & Fishermen — documentation of protests, policy impacts, and the broader battle over food sovereignty.

- Lawfare & Free Expression — reporting on legal and institutional pressures against journalists, writers, and dissidents.

🔗 Connect with Elze -

🌐 Website: vanhamelen.eu

🌐 Substack: Elze’s Investigations

📱 Twitter: @ElzevH

****

🌍 Welcome! I’m on a mission to explore real-world solutions to global sustainability—with honesty, hope, curiosity, and a bit of dark humour. 😅

🎙️ Interviews with FARMERS, SCIENTISTS, AUTHORS & ACTIVISTS—plus original content showing what sustainable living can look like. No preaching. No perfection. Just real talk. Sustainability for the many, not the few.

🍽️ From HEALTHY FOOD to CLEAN WATER and DETOXING YOUR LIFE —this channel breaks it all down so you can live healthier, happier, and smarter. There's something for everyone here on the channel!✌️😎💡

This is sustainability WITHOUT JUDGEMENT. I'm certainly no saint, and I don’t expect you to be either!💥

🍀🇮🇪Based in Ireland. Thinking globally.🌎

MY LIFE:

Former SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT 🌍⚡🏠

Former INVESTMENT MANAGER 💵📈💸

MSc. in SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTS 🌿🌲♻️🚮

Hons BSc. Degree in REAL ESTATE 🏘️🏠

FARMING (helping my uncle) 👨‍🌾🐮🥩

Former VEGETARIAN (20 yrs) 🥩🥦🍳🔔

Subscribe & join the wild journey!😆🤪

LINKS

📸 Instagram: [@sustainabilityforsinners] (https://www.instagram.com/sustainabilityforsinners)

🎵 TikTok: [@sustainabilityforsinners](https://www.tiktok.com/@sustainabilityforsinners)

🎧 Spotify: [sustainabilityforsinners](https://open.spotify.com/show/sustainabilityforsinners)

🍏 Apple Podcasts: [sustainabilityforsinners](https://podcasts.apple.com/sustainabilityforsinners)

👤 About Me: [sustainabilityforsinners](https://about.me/sustainabilityforsinners)

🕊️ X (Twitter): [@sustain4sinners](https://x.com/@sustain4sinners)

I am THRILLED to speak to Jayne Buxton, author of 'The Great Plant Based Con - Why a Plant Based Diet Won't Improve Your Health or Save the Planet'.

It is one of the bravest and best books I've ever read.

It is well intentioned, well balanced, thoughtful about animal welfare issues and highlights the bigger picture of what is really going with the global plant based movement (which is impacting us all).

If you want to learn about well balanced nutrition that sustains you and makes you thrive - then this interview and book are for you!

If you want to learn about how we can create sustainable food systems that benefit us, increase animal welfare and protect and regenerate the natural environment - then this interview and book are for you!

🔗 Connect with Jayne -

📘 Book: The Great Plant‑Based Con: Why eating a plants‑only diet won’t improve your health or save the planet (audiobook versions on Audible, Spotify and elsewhere also)🌐 Website: thegreatplantbasedcon.com  

📱 Twitter: @JayneReesBuxton

🔗 Connect with me -

Instagram / Facebook / TikTok: @SustainabilityforSinnersYouTube/Spotify/Apple

Music/Amazon: @SustainabilityforSinners

Mission Statement: https://about.me/sustainabilityforsin...

X/Twitter: @Sustain4sinners

🌍 Welcome!

I’m on a mission to explore real-world solutions to global sustainability—with honesty, hope, curiosity, and a bit of dark humour. 😅

🎙️ Interviews with FARMERS, SCIENTISTS, AUTHORS & ACTIVISTS—plus original content showing what sustainable living can look like.

No preaching. No perfection. Just real talk. Sustainability for the many, not the few.🍽️

From HEALTHY FOOD to CLEAN WATER and DETOXING YOUR LIFE — this channel breaks it all down so you can live healthier, happier, and smarter. There's something for everyone here on the channel!✌️😎💡

This is sustainability without judgment. I certainly ain't no saint, and I don’t expect you to be either!

🇮🇪Based in Ireland. Thinking globally.🌎

MY LIFE:

FARMING (helping my uncle) 👨‍🌾🐮

MSc. in SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTS 🌿

EX- SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT

EX- INVESTMENT MANAGER 💰

Hons. Degree in REAL ESTATE 🏘️

20 year VEGETARIAN, now I eat a healthy mix of ALL FOODS 🥩🥦🍳

Subscribe & join the wild journey!😆🤪