Milan expo hillier v1 01

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