Associate Professor Jonathan Robins - Deep roots—a history of oil palm

This episode is a supplementary full interview with Associate Professor Jonathan Robins from Episode 3 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we trace the global impact of the palm oil industry from its indigenous roots to modern supply chains. Dr Jonathan Robins opens by detailing the pre-colonial history of oil palm in West Africa and explaining how European empires weaponised the crop to fuel the Industrial Revolution, establishing structural patterns that mirror today’s agribusi...