milan expo hillier v1 01
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http://fertilizerseurope.com/fileadmin/documents/1.%20COMMITTEES/COMMUNICATION/EXPO_Milano/Milan_expo_Hillier_v1.01.pdfTRANSCRIPT
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. [email protected]
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
Consumers
SUPPLY CHAIN
Uni
leve
r’s In
fluen
ce
High
Low Natural Resources
Transportation Manufacturing Product Distribution
Envi
ronm
enta
l Fo
otpr
int
High
Low
They have a big footprint in an area of limited control
Why does sustainable sourcing matter to Unilever?
IPCC, 2006
Agroforestry
Residue management
Manure management
Machinery Efficiency and use
No-till Cover-cropping
Optimise fertiliser production and use
Sources of emissions on farm and possible mitigation practices
Change diet Change flooding regime
What does the science say?
But which practices are effective for my product and my region?
Chapters summarising effectiveness of many mitigation practices in total
Professor Pete Smith, U of Aberdeen. Coordinating lead author of agriculture volumes
Origins, Autumn 2008
We need some software because farmers lack…. …robust and credible methods for quantifying farm-level 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
● A number of companies and sponsors involved:
● Covering a range of farming systems and geographies:
Source: www.sustainablefood.org
Cool Farming Options (2010-2012)
Canada Azerbaijan
Tanzania
Guatemala
India
USA
Jamaica
Germany
Colombia Kenya
Egypt
Nicaragua
Indonesia
Italy
Brazil
Ghana
Mexico
Paraguay
France
Cool Farming Options
Improved tool
Timeline
-Inception Uni of Aberdeen Unilever
-Cool Farming Options launched
-1st conference 25 attendees -5 press stories inc FT & Farmers Weekly
-Alliance formed -Founding partnerships -Funds raised -Website & logo -Software specified -2nd conference 40 attendees -14 press stories inc Guardian, The Grocer, Environmental Leader, Farmers Guardian, Farmers Weekly
- Numerous case studies - Developments and enhancements in progress
Funded by Unilever
-Development -Testing
History and Progress
Funded by sponsoring partners
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
Evolution of the CFT 1. Production 2. Soil 3. Fertiliser Use 4. Pesticide Applications 5. Crop Residue Management 6. Crop Management Results
39.3 kg CO2 eq Per tonne
YOUR RESULTS SO FAR 259.4 kg CO2 eq Per hectare by land area:
by production:
Quick tab views
Live results
6 x DATA ENTRY
Save entered data
Progress tracker
2 – Growing area
Area Soil: - Texture
- Organic matter
- Moisture
- Drainage
- pH
Detailed results
Description
The Cool Farm Tool
An easy to use and standardised on-line tool for calculating the on-farm environmental impacts, applicable globally
Industry-backed Scientifically
robust Farmer-friendly
Science
Industry
Farmers
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
• 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)
Farmer-friendly
“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 on-farm 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
Improved GHGs
Development
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
Barbara Percy, Reading University Benjamin Kayatz, Martin Wattenbach, GFZ Potsdam
New metrics - Water footprinting
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”
Suppliers
Group code
Compare GHG emissions to peers…group learning
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
Economics
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