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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Why Agriculture Needs to Catch Up on Climate Change Action
  • Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:25:50 -0700


Why Agriculture Needs to Catch Up on Climate Change Action
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/12/28/why-agriculture-needs-catch-up-climate-action


Farmers know weather. They know that the rainfall and temperature patterns
that they depend on for productive yields are increasingly volatile.

Agriculture is one of the first sectors that will be seriously affected by
climate change. We're already seeing the impacts: the record-breaking drought
and heat wave in Texas this year, for example, greatly depressed peanut
yields, tripled prices for processors and led to a consumer price increase of
30-40 percent on peanut butter, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Climate change will likely impact average temperatures, and the frequency of
heat waves and extreme weather events, including storms, floods and droughts,
is expected to increase, all with repercussions that will be felt by the
agriculture sector.

Against this backdrop of changing environmental conditions, major food and
beverage companies such as H.J. Heinz and ConAgra Foods are examining the
sustainability of their agricultural supply chains. Extreme weather
conditions can interrupt supplies of raw material inputs, thereby endangering
access to the ingredients, fibers and even biofuels upon which major global
supply chains depend.

In a move to adapt to climate change and to mitigate associated risk, leading
companies are beginning to address these concerns by making publicly stated
goals to reduce the agricultural emissions in their supply chain. H.J. Heinz
has a target to reduce the carbon footprint of California tomato crops by 15
percent by 2014, while ConAgra Foods aims to reduce their emissions per pound
of product by 20 percent by 2015.

Responsible for approximately 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions,
agriculture has a considerable impact on climate change. Roughly 8 percent of
greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. are produced by agricultural activities;
this is comparable to the total national emissions of France, or one third of
U.S. passenger vehicles. For many crops, up to 80 percent or more of these
emissions occur before products leave the farm gate.

It is for these reasons that the Carbon Disclosure Project conducted a 2011
pilot with the intention of engaging U.S. suppliers of tomatoes and potatoes,
in order to gauge their capacity to report on greenhouse gas emissions and to
identify areas of successful emissions management. The results, which are now
available in a new report (PDF) written for CDP by Common Fields, illustrate
that some growers have practiced sustainable farming practices for more than
a decade, while others demonstrated a willingness with the proviso of the
right incentives. At the other end of the spectrum lies doubt. There are
growers who question both the causes and urgency of climate change.

More than 3,700 companies this year disclosed information on their climate
change strategies, emissions and emissions reductions activities through CDP.
In stark contrast, the majority of suppliers that took part in the new
agriculture supply chain pilot are unable to quantify their emissions
footprint, their emissions reductions as a result of sustainable agriculture
or emissions reductions initiatives.

This positions the U.S. agriculture sector as lagging in terms of commitment,
understanding and disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions and reductions
strategies. Interviews with growers revealed that much more needs to be done
in order to fulfill the risk mitigation and emissions reduction ambitions of
their corporate customers. Additionally, not all responsibility lies at farm
level; successful corporate strategies include setting clear supplier
requirements, providing user-friendly software and training, and offering
incentives to share the burden and strengthen the business case for emissions
reductions.

Most processors and retailers acknowledge that the sustainable performance of
growers is likely to become a strong factor in buying decisions. Greater
education and investment from processors, retailers, industry groups, trade
associations and throughout the value chain is needed to fully engage the
growers, who are the furthest removed from any consumer or investor signal to
respond to climate change, and yet are most susceptible and vulnerable to its
effects.

As part of the solution, reporting of the greenhouse gas emissions in a
company's value chain will become standard practice within three to five
years. The agricultural sector must embrace this as an opportunity to ensure
its profitability and sustainability. Humanity relies on food and fiber to
fulfill our basic needs; the role of the farmer in protecting these resources
is critical.




  • [Livingontheland] Why Agriculture Needs to Catch Up on Climate Change Action, Tradingpost, 12/28/2011

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