TED is a non-profit devoted to "ideas worth spreading", and you can find literally thousands of free--inspiring and awesome--talks from experts and innovators around the world. We've decided to highlight 24 TED talks specifically around food issues that we found compelling and worth sharing.

Bees are essential for one out of three bites of food we eat. But last winter, beekeepers reported losses of 50-70 percent of their hives -- the worst year yet since the global bee die-off began! A growing body of scientific evidence is pointing to neonicotinoids (neonics) as the key factor in this crisis and the European Union has just imposed a two year ban on these toxic pesticides. These neonics are everywhere -- in commercial agriculture, on the shelf of your local garden stores, and in the plants and seeds we buy from nurseries.

A new review of hundreds of scientific studies surrounding glyphosate—the major component of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide—sheds light on its effects within the human body. The paper describes how all of these effects could work together, and with other variables, trigger health problems in humans, including debilitating diseases like gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

Nigella sativa -- more commonly known as fennel flower -- has been used as a cure-all remedy for over a thousand years. It treats everything from vomiting to fevers to skin diseases, and has been widely available in impoverished communities across the Middle East and Asia. But now Nestlé is claiming to own it, and filing patent claims around the world to try and take control over the natural cure of the fennel flower and turn it into a costly private drug. Tell Nestlé: Stop trying to patent a natural cure

When you buy organic, you should feel safe knowing that your food was raised without synthetic chemicals or genetic engineering. That's why we have the USDA organic label in the first place! But, in April, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) will meet to decide whether they want to grant organic apple and pear growers yet another extension on ending the use of the antibiotic tetracycline. Sign the petition below demanding that the NOSB protect organic standards and take a stand against the use of tetracycline in fruit production today. Sign now and we'll deliver your petition signature to the NOSB.

You’ve probably seen them. Plastic bottles of water for sale … in some of our most pristine and naturally gorgeous places: our national parks. You’re not alone. Every year, hundreds of millions of park visitors get the message that the only place to get safe water is from a plastic bottle. This is just wrong, because bottled water is far less regulated than tap.

IATP has always argued that trade agreements need to respect and promote human rights, not drive a process of globalization that privileges commercial interests and tramples on public interests. In a new paper on land grabs, we reaffirm that position. “Land grabs” are large-scale purchases or leases of agricultural or forested land on terms that violate the rights of the people who live on or near that land. The problem has commanded enormous public policy and media attention for the last few years. In our paper, IATP sets some context for the land grabs phenomenon. We focus on two forces that have contributed significantly to the problem:

If this policy is successfully implemented, it will be huge step towards reforming Indonesia’s paper industry, protecting its rainforests and the remaining Sumatran tigers that call that place home. Remember our recent victories with Mattel, Lego, IGA and KFC? When big companies like these started ditching their contracts with APP, it helped persuade the company to make this new commitment. Down here in Australia, we’ve played an incredibly important part of this win (our colleagues at Greenpeace HQ in Amsterdam often referred to us as the “secret weapon in the campaign!). As well as joining in international work against the likes of customers like Mattel, Paperlinx, KCF, Fuji Xerox and others, we’ve taken it right to the doorstep of APP subsidiaries, Solaris and Collins Debden. The loss of IGA led to a mothballing of their Australian factory.

While European policymakers are taking steps to protect bees from harmful pesticides, EPA is poised to approve yet another bee-toxic pesticide for use here in the U.S. Instead of following the science and protecting bees from known harms, the agency is set to conditionally register another new pesticide known to harm bees, sulfoxaflor, for a broad variety of uses. Sulfoxaflor is a cousin to imidacloprid and clothianidin, with shared mechanisms of action (all work on the same bee brain synapses — nicotinic acetylcholine receptors) We have between now and February 12 to send a clear message: Bees need protection from harmful pesticides, not more exposure. EPA decisionmakers, it's time to step up!

A state Senator from St. Louis has introduced a bill requiring the labeling of genetically modified meat and fish in Missouri. State Sen. Jemilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis) introduced Senate Bill 155 this week. “While I understand that food production is an integral Missouri industry, I don’t feel the trend of biotechnology and genetically engineered foods is always apparent to the average citizen, “ said Sen. Nasheed. “I am merely asking for clarity in the sale of certain genetically engineered, or GE, foods to Missouri’s customers.”