The Cool Farm Tool and The Cool Farm Alliance An collaborative approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing sustainability in agriculture Jon Hillier. University of Aberdeen. j.hillier@abdn.ac.uk
BUSINESS CASE STUDY: UNILEVER • Diverse portfolio of products across food, home and personal care. • Complex global supply chains • Vast consumer base • Reliance on agricultural supply base for many raw materials e.g. Cocoa, palm oil tea, vanilla, soy, dairy produce, fruit and veg etc.
Sustainability pledge
START WITH GHG EMISSIONS
Unilever’s Greenhouse Gas Footprint
Why does sustainable sourcing matter to Unilever? They have a big footprint in an area of limited control High
Low
Environmental Footprint
Unilever’s Influence
High
Natural Transportation Resources
Manufacturing
SUPPLY CHAIN
Product Distribution
Consumers
Low
Agroforestry
Residue management Manure management Change diet
Optimise fertiliser production and use
Machinery Efficiency and use
Change flooding regime
No-till Cover-cropping IPCC, 2006
Sources of emissions on farm and possible mitigation practices
What does the science say?
Professor Pete Smith, U of Aberdeen. Coordinating lead author of agriculture volumes
Chapters summarising effectiveness of many mitigation practices in total But which practices are effective for my product and my region?
Origins, Autumn 2008
We need some software because farmers lack…. …robust and credible methods for quantifying farmlevel GHGs… and …practical tools to identify the most effective emission reduction practices and quantify their effects.
Christof Walter, Unilever Sustainable Agriculture
Pete Smith, Jon Hillier Soil GHG modelling group, U of Aberdeen
First version of the Cool Farm Tool – 2009/2010
• Science-based • Easy to use by farmers • Open and free to use • …others began to enquire
Cool Farming Options (2010-2012) â—? A number of companies and sponsors involved:
â—? Covering a range of farming systems and geographies:
Source: www.sustainablefood.org
Cool Farming Options
Germany Italy
France Canada USA Mexico Jamaica Guatemala Nicaragua Colombia Paraguay Brazil
Azerbaijan Indonesia India Egypt Ghana Kenya Tanzania
Improved tool
History and Progress
Timeline
-Development -Testing
- Numerous case studies - Developments and enhancements in progress
-1st conference 25 attendees -5 press stories inc FT & Farmers Weekly
-Cool Farming Options launched -Inception Uni of Aberdeen Unilever
-Alliance formed -Founding partnerships -Funds raised -Website & logo -Software specified
Funded by sponsoring partners Funded by Unilever
-2nd conference 40 attendees -14 press stories inc Guardian, The Grocer, Environmental Leader, Farmers Guardian, Farmers Weekly
CFA Mission Statement
The Cool Farm Alliance will help millions of growers globally to make more informed on-farm decisions that reduce their environmental impact. Initial Focus: GHG impacts
Succeeding together – collaboration is key • Cool Farm Alliance owned by an industry consortium • Partners, members and supporters are drawn from across industry, academia, not-for-profits and consultants • Benefit from tackling big challenges together and having a consistent approach to measurement
YOUR RESULTS SO FAR
259.4 39.3
by land area: by production:
1. Production
2. Soil
3. Fertiliser Use
kg CO2 eq Per hectare kg CO2 eq Per tonne
4. Pesticide Applications
Evolution of the CFT 5. Crop Residue Management
6. Crop Management Results
Progress tracker
Live results
Quick tab views
Save entered data
6x DATA ENTRY
2 – Growing area
Area Soil: -
Texture
-
Organic matter
-
Moisture
-
Drainage
-
pH
Description
Detailed results
The Cool Farm Tool An easy to use and standardised on-line tool for calculating the on-farm environmental impacts, applicable globally Farmers
Science
Industry
Industry-backed Scientifically robust Farmer-friendly
Science-based • Tool draws on established research, e.g.: Livestock: IPCC Tier 1 and 2 calculations Field N2O: Bouwman model Soil Carbon: IPCC model Fertilizer emissions: Fertilizers Europe Energy: GHG Protocol, IEA and EPA
Farmer-friendly • Farm management sensitive • A scenario tool: what is vs. what could be • Allows exploration of mitigation options • 89% of Tesco growers would recommend to others (2013-14 pilot)
“The interactive nature of the CFT is fantastic and the ‘what if’ scenarios make it very captivating”
Feedback from US processor
(Part of the known) Usage • Unilever: over 10,000 farms, embedding in its Sustainable Agriculture Code (SAC), as the requirement for the GHG metric. • PepsiCo: >100 potato farmers covering about 800 hectares • Costco: over 60 million dozens eggs p/a • McCain: 15 countries about 30 sample farms • 7 different partners: coffee 7 countries, 500 farms >10,000 assessments across at least 33 countries and 28 crops
Unilever and the CFT • CFT is embedded within the Unilever sustainable agriculture code (SAC) • Over 100k farms assess their onfarm GHG emissions • Want to assess whether adherence to SAC reducing GHG emissions • Increase awareness and drive continuous improvement • Surprising benefit is improved relationship with suppliers.
Costco • Costco Organic egg examples: • 10 farmers. Millions of eggs. • Farmers conducted assessments and then meet to compare results. • 3 successive years – Farmers were compared to the distribution for the 10. 14% reduction in year 2 – Costco and its farmers moved from scepticism to pride to being at the cutting edge – Positive because it is a mechanism for engagement – summits which built camaraderie. Even to the point of sharing eggs when there were shortages.
More case studies available online (www.coolfarmtool.org)
Impact summary • Has been used the CFT with suppliers to enact carbon reduction plans and drive reduction in their supply chains. • As an education tool to advise farmer on improved management, and to identify intervention to manage environmental impact • Has improved the relationship with suppliers
Development
Improved GHGs 2012
2015
Improved GHG models • Nitrous oxide emissions from soils. With CIMMYT, and Yara. Funded by CCAFS (https://ccafs.cgiar.org/) • Updated emission factors for fertiliser production. With Fertilizers Europe. • Enhancements for perennial crop systems and for livestock production systems in planning
New metrics Water footprinting
Barbara Percy, Reading University Benjamin Kayatz, Martin Wattenbach, GFZ Potsdam
New metrics - Biodiversity Linking with Cambridge University Conservation Evidence Group
Caitlin McCormack, Lynn Dicks, Prof Bill Sutherland
Aggregation, etc. What is a good “carbon / water / biodiversity footprint” Group code Compare GHG emissions to peers…group learning
Suppliers
Economics
Providing info on €€€/$$$/£££ of implementation will enable cost-effective mitigation solutions to be found
Decision-makers need reliable information on the economic impact of SAP to design effective support policies.
Economics module
Facilitate adoption of positive practices by farmers
Summary • How can the science on environmental impacts of farming be used practically • Co-design of solutions – Business (farm, food & drink, retail, ag inputs, etc) must be engaged in the technologies – Practices to improve environmental performance must allow businesses to function throughout the whole supply chain