The Big Picture
The provision of food and agricultural products and services might seem unrelated to climate change. However, agricultural practices, such as tilling soil and managing animal wastes, determine the amount of greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere or are sequestered in the biosphere. Likewise, the transport of food products around the world also has an impact on climate change.
Reducing carbon dioxide emissions from food systems will be essential if recommended cuts in greenhouse gases are to be met in the future. In addition to transport, other stages of the food lifecycle are also major emitters of greenhouse gases. Agriculture alone is approximately 10% of total climate-changing GHG emissions and the contribution of the food chain as a whole could be as high as 20%-22%, about the same as that for road traffic in total, a source of major concern in terms of climate disruption.
No one agricultural sector is solely responsible for these emissions. The most basic agricultural activities create climate-changing emissions. Livestock and crop production both contribute to climate change. Clearing forests, draining wetlands, burning stubble, raising livestock and fertilizing with nitrogen all release GHG's into the atmosphere. Human actions such as overgrazing of agricultural lands, removal of tree cover and intensive agricultural practices have furthered soil erosion and have accelerated desertification which in the past was largely caused by natural climatic processes.
By addressing the impacts of business activity, companies in the food and agricultural industries can operate more sustainably, raise the bar for environmental performance of their industry, and enhance their brand with environmentally minded consumers. Companies can also streamline their operations to reduce their costs while going beyond compliance to avoid regulatory burdens.
The three most important greenhouse gases produced by agriculture are:
Carbon dioxide: Global increases have been produced from the widespread combustion of fossil fuels and other materials. It is also released by natural processes such as plant and animal respiration, and the decay of organic matter. CO2 is currently responsible for over 60% of the enhanced greenhouse effect.
Methane: Methane is produced from the decay of organic matter without oxygen. Major sources include ruminant digestive processes, and manure storage and handling. Although there is less methane is the atmosphere, it is a more effective heat-trapping gas than CO2.
Nitrous oxide: Soil cultivation, fertilizer and manure application, and the combustion of fossil fuels and organic matter produce NOX emissions. Soils and oceans naturally release nitrous oxide. The global warming potential of N2O is over 300 times that of CO2.
The contribution to greenhouse gas emission or sequestration for food and agricultural companies are as follows:
- Direct emissions from croplands, livestock, food processing facilities, etc.
- Emissions from the transport of products from field to dinner table
- Sequestration of carbon from changes in land use or growing practices
- Substitution of renewable energy sources for fossil fuels
Businesses can act to reduce the cost to grow, transport and dispose of food and agricultural products. Bioenergy is a sustainable energy source that can supplement farm income for growers of certain products and for livestock facility operators.
The first step is to determine the net contribution to climate change for your operations and to set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Next, decide on a plan of action throughout your supply chain, working with business partners, suppliers and organizations that can support your efforts. Monitor the results of your policies and publicize your success in responding to the climate challenge.
Key Players
The food and agricultural industries are composed of and related to several types of organizations:
Crop growers and livestock raisers. These companies work directly to produce crops from the land or raise animals for use. Management practices have direct impacts on greenhouse gas emissions or carbon sequestration. Conservations tillage, management of animal wastes and crop residues, and inputs such as fertilizer can contribute to or mitigate for climate change. Leading companies realize that what used to be considered waste could also be used as a sustainable energy source for rural economic development.
Food marketers. The journey from field to table can be a long one. Some estimate the costs of transporting food to be higher than the cost of growing it. Investments in trip reductions or local sourcing can reduce the fossil fuels burned and greenhouses gases generated by shipping, refrigerating and packaging food.
Researchers and industry groups. There is a wealth of information about agricultural practices that grows every year. Recently, research has turned toward the effects of a changing climate on agriculture and the potential to mitigate for greenhouse gas emissions by changes in agricultural practices. Researchers are developing standards for measuring, reporting and verifying emissions and carbon offsets. Every year companies partner with researchers to advance the field of climate management.
Government and carbon-policy makers. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the standard setting body for climate change policy around the world. In conjunction with national governments, the UNFCCC has a large influence on policies that impact markets around the work. In a greenhouse gas constrained global economy that seems to grow more likely every year, governing bodies will determine the rules sustainable agriculture in terms of GHG emissions.
The Upside
There are numerous reasons for companies to manage climate impacts:
- Cost savings: Costs associated with fertilizer use and fossil fuels used to power farm machinery can be avoided as well.
- Productivity gains: Soils can regain lost carbon by reabsorbing it from the atmosphere. This process is called carbon sequestration. Conservation tillage has the potential to increase crop yields and nourish the soils on which agriculture depends. Regrowth of native or perennial vegetation can potentially increase the long-term soil organic carbon in previously cultivated soils.
- Alternate income sources: Bioenergy is a growing industry that makes use of sustainably harvested crops, gasification technologies that improve energy efficiency and rural markets for electricity. Bioenergy also provides opportunities for supplying the transport industry with alternative fuels. Farm and livestock operators can supplement income by marketing bioenergy to local communities.
- Brand identity: Consumer demand in the food and agricultural sector has shown remarkable sensitivity to sustainability issues. By excelling in practices aimed at harmonizing businesses with environmental concerns, companies can position themselves as brand leaders.
Reality Check
- Uncertain climate change impacts: Models of climate change impacts predict changes in temperature shifts and in rainfall that vary by region. It is thought that temperature increases will benefit some crops up to a point, but large increases will reduce yields. Some areas will experience increased rainfall, however there is the potential for flooding and crop damage as a result. Some impacts are unavoidable, while others can be adapted to, at some cost to the grower.
- Technical challenges: Food prices continue to fall due to productivity gains, which encourages the conversion of forests to grazing lands and cultivation on marginal lands, the short term view of land management, and barriers to conserving carbon stocks. Like many industries, the cost of climate management has not yet proven the return on investment for the food and agricultural industries. Only through the careful coordination of efforts to make agriculture serve multiple constituencies have changes in management practices proven fruitful.
Action Plan
- Make a commitment. By setting a goal for reducing emissions, either directly or through offsetting emissions through land use practices or renewable energy substitution, your company will be able to track and report progress. As regulatory and market programs evolve, the ability to manage GHG emissions, or the lack of it, will reflect on a company’s management quality and commitment to corporate responsibility as well as its financial exposure to risk.
- Assess your footprint. Determine what the most significant impacts of your business are, and decide what measurements need to be taken. Are land management practices where you should focus your efforts, or should you strive to reduce the impacts of transporting goods? Leading companies take an inclusive approach to setting the boundaries of their business activities and take measurements across all business units.
- Capture emissions from animal waste. Waste from dairy cows at the Mason Dixon Farms in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was decomposed in an anaerobic digester, and the methane produced was used to generate electricity for on-site energy needs, with any excess sold to Penelec, a local electric company. In the other project, electricity was generated from methane recovered from the decomposing waste of swine owned by Valley Pork, Inc., of Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania.
- Develop a bioenergy system to produce alternative fuels. The World Resources Institute works with energy users to develop and promote “biomass fuel fired power generation,” at facilities such as sawmills and sugar mills, and “biorefining,” a biotechnology process “whereby biomass such as wood waste is converted into purified cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin fractions for further biorefining to yield ethanol for gasoline additives and other high-value products.”
- Preserve and grow carbon stocks; earn money from conservation easements. Carbon can be used as currency. For example, the UtiliTree Carbon Company selected Environmental Synergy, Inc. to reforest 500 acres in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. The project developed a model to use carbon offsets as an income-generating stream for private landowners who restore marginal cropland to bottomland hardwood forests.
Leads
The Bottom Line
Many innovative and forward-thinking food and agriculture companies are actively engaged in business forums and in dialogue with governments and NGOs sharing information and improving performance in the realm of corporate social responsibility. Climate change is not merely a “wait and see” environmental policy matter for government relations, it is one of the defining sustainability issues in our time. Like so many other sustainability and CSR issues facing companies, a sound business grasp on the carbon impact of the food and agriculture industry is an asset worth managing well.
