OpenAg Symposium Report 2022

Reimagining the role of global agriculture on the path to Net Zero emissions By the OpenAg Symposium series 27 June, 2022

The OpenAg Symposium is an annual conference that brings together academics, researchers, policymakers, private sector leaders, and parliamentarians to explore the role of food systems in human development. It stands as a commitment to collaboration and partnership, and seeks to bring together practical, workable solutions for advancing the sustainable development of agricultural practices across the developed and developing world alike.

Following the inaugural conference in 2021, which took a high-level view of the actors and actions with the greatest potential to address the effects of climate change on food systems, this year’s event took a more focussed look at the role of global farming activity as a driver of decarbonisation.

The conference set out to explore evidence-based solutions for unlocking the transformative power of agriculture as a key – but underutilised – industry within global net-zero aspirations. Drawing on financial, social, and practical interventions, the conference sought to embrace and champion the need for exploiting more intelligently the manifold linkages between the food systems and other industries to effect large-scale change in emissions and sequestration of green-house gasses.

Global food systems are tasked with the complex challenge of feeding a growing population with nutritious food, whilst carefully managing our natural resources and safeguarding planetary health. However, agriculture is one of the most overlooked, misunderstood and underutilised resources in global efforts to both mitigate the risks posed by a changing climate and reach Net Zero, and new technologies are combining with age-old good agricultural practices to provide new possibilities for climate-smart farming.

The potential here is of exceptional significance. Not only does agriculture have within its own practices and policies the opportunity to reshape decarbonisation, it is an industry that maintains multifarious direct and indirect linkages with other industries. From energy and bio-plastics, to pharmaceuticals and logistics, the overlap with agricultural activity represents a compelling ‘mother industry’ from which major climate-positive actions can originate and proliferate. The key is collaboration: we must work together to explore the interlinked challenges of accelerating climate change and food systems to develop, facilitate and advance meaningful policies, practices and interventions to foster an efficient, resilient, inclusive and sustainable food future.

“A fascinating event organised by Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development featuring leading global minds sharing their invaluable insights on various sustainable solutions towards net zero agriculture in a collaborative manner.

The rich dialogue on sustainability and food security given the current global environment was very pertinent” – SAMI KHAN, Director (Coverage & Strategy) Food and Agriculture, British International Investment

Dr Agnes Kalibata, President of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to the 2021 Food Systems Summit, gave a keynote address at the second OpenAg Symposium ‘Food Futures in a Changing Climate’ on June 27, 2022, at the University of Oxford on the need for collaboration, social equality and financial upport for e orts towards emission reduction in the agricultural sector.

This was followed by an interview with Dr Kalibata led by Jeevan Vasagar, Climate Editor at Tortoise Media.

Here are the highlights of the discussion:

LIVING IN A GLOBAL CRISIS

OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHANGE

1. The negative impacts of climate change are already being felt by farming communities, particularly in the developing world, in the form of increasing temperatures, weather variability, shifting agroecosystem boundaries, invasive crops and pests, and more frequent extreme weather events. On farms, climate change is reducing crop yields, the nutritional quality of major cereals, increasing the presence of pests and diseases, and lowering livestock productivity. Smallholder farmers, and in particular women and children, are expected to face the burden of extreme and unexpected climatic events.

1. As the world moves forward from the pandemic and the Russian invasion, it is crucial to incorporate resilience of the natural environment and livelihoods to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Countries need to scale up their ability to tackle climate change while increasing productivity, an initiative which requires financial investments to support the farmers and strong political leadership to fix food systems.

2. Substantial investments in adaptation will be required to not only maintain current yields but also achieve production and food quality increases to meet global demand. A majority of climate adaptation-related financial schemes provide loans but not funds to smallholding farmers and communities impacted by climate change.

This further pushes vulnerable communities into debt.

3. The problem also works in reverse. Agriculture is a major part of the climate problem. Close to a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the agriculture sector, in the form of carbon dioxide from tillage and nitrous oxide from fertilization of agricultural soils, methane from livestock and manure, and all three gases from land use change for food production.

Additionally, global food waste contributes to 8% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, the majority of which comes from developed countries. Addressing food loss and waste is critical to helping meet climate goals and reduce stress on the environment.

4. In addition to climate change, the ripple effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and COVID-19 have highlighted the interconnectedness and interdependence of food systems. The war has led fertilizer shortages and price increase, which poses severe implications for farmers across the world.

2. While finding solutions for reducing methane emissions from crop fields is important, it is also necessary not only to maintain but also expand carbon sinks to absorb greenhouse gases and halt deforestation as agriculture grows. Global soils, on average, can hold as much as double the amount of carbon than is present in the atmosphere, and represent an under-utilised carbon sink. With approximately 20 gigatonnes of carbon required to reduced from the atmosphere by 2030 in order to maintain the 1.5C global warming target, the expansion of soil carbon sequestration as a decarbonisation tool should be prioritised.

3. In relation to the intensification of droughts and rising temperatures, we need to think about how water security can be strengthened while improving agricultural productivity. The protection of water resources used for agriculture and other purposes will be essential to meet this goal.

4. In a post-war world, it is critical to ensure better availability of and access to agricultural technology and crop solutions while ensuring their judicious use.

5. With over 590 million global farmers, growers can be a critical part of the solution. For example, a 5% improvement in sustainable agriculture behaviour can make a profound impact to help with empowering agriculture to become a net decarbonising force.

FINDING SOLUTIONS 1. Smallholder farmers must be made stewards for the future. Indigenous and local communities must be respected and their ways of life should be incorporated to finding solutions and ideas for mitigating and adapting to climate change. Analysing and addressing the local context is required to better understand farmers’ needs.

2. Farmers confront risk and uncertainty every day, and should not only be rewarded for adopting sustainable behaviours and practices - such as maintaining soil carbon and health – but actively equipped to do so, given the number of competing priorities at stake.

They should also be rewarded for undertaking risks and facing subsequent losses due to extreme climatic events.

3. Effective scientific research and prediction models must be people-centred. If research in natural resource management is to contribute to improved sustainability outcomes across our food systems, it must incorporate fast-changing development practices and on-the-ground information, with

farmers playing a central role. When these conditions exist, research can help develop better production technologies and ways to optimise the management of natural resources for improved and more sustainable land productivity and environmental sustainability.

In conclusion, farmers from India to Brazil are facing complex challenges not only because of climate change, but also due to a myriad of external shocks. While moving forward, it is now essential to strike the right balance to protect both the environment and the people.

Advancements in science and research can aid farmers in making better informed decisions while investments and financial support can provide them with a safety net in the light of climate change.

Having discussed the role of regenerative agriculture, the need for improved digitisation and the complexity of carbon markets, the panel concluded with the question of who is responsible for delivering the above: is it governments, the private sector or NGOs? Who has the authority and capabilities , and lastly, how can the ball be set rolling to address different facets of climate change?

PANEL 1: WHAT ARE THE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR FINANCING THE TRANSITION TO NET ZERO AGRICULTURE? Speakers: Paul Brereton (Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast), Helena Wright (Policy Director, FAIRR), Suzanne van Tilburg (Global Head (Food & Agri Networks), Rabobank), Sami Khan (Director (Coverage & Strategy) Food and Agriculture, BII). Moderator: Jerome Hasler (Chief of Sta , UPL)

Private finance has a powerful role to play in accelerating the transition to regenerative agriculture by actively scaling the information and access to capital specifically tailored to farmers and food producers. And with every farm starting their journey to net zero from a different point of departure, farmers will need tailored and distinct solutions to support their transition towards positive climate action.

The panel discussed the business case for Net Zero agriculture and the urgent need for banks and financial institutions to power that change, all while keeping stakeholder interests of farmers, consumers and the environment into consideration.

Improving the ‘carbon bank’ model for reward-based financing 1. Smallholder farmers need to be incentivised to undertake carbon farming. Carbon farming is a tool for improved land management that can help remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the soil by means of carbon capture. Financial cooperatives, like Rabobank for instance, empower small scale farmers to sequester carbon in their soils and thus generate carbon credits. Carbon credits can be then traded via cooperatives which can provide more revenue options to farmers.

2. Sustainability progress needs to be measured and monitored at each step in the value chain rather than just at the producers’ and consumers’ stage. It will help in the identification of sustainability champions by achieving, monitoring, and verifying carbon emissions throughout the supply stages. Responsible agricultural supply chains should be provided with financial incentives, and greater traceability and transparency is needed to give consumers conscious choices and drive better returns for farmers growing sustainablyproduced food.

Micronutrients in the soil are the new green capital for the world. Farmers involved in activities which aid in maintaining soil health should be rewarded through schemes. Good soil health should be seen as an asset which cooperatives can invest in and maintain, reaping dividends through improved soil quality and increased agricultural productivity for farmers, and carbon credits as tradable assets.

Incentives for financing climate mitigation 1. Investment should be impact-focused. Projects focusing on having a direct impact on Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) such as carbon sequestration-based agriculture, renewable energy, education, and health should be a priority. Experimenting with new technologies to mitigate the effects of climate change are likely to attract more catalytic capital, an investment capital that is risk-tolerant and flexible.

2. Investor influence must be used to instigate positive change. The $14 Trillion Investor Coalition, organised by the FAIRR Initiative, is a good example of this. The group recently sent a letter to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) urging them to set a roadmap for how the food system can align with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C. 3. Companies should be encouraged to track their emissions. As of today only 18% of companies are tracking their methane emissions. Companies investing and experimenting with renewable energies should be incentivised. Such projects provide fast-track solutions, especially in developing countries.

4. While assessing impacts, investors should focus on winwin-wins. Projects focusing on climate action, resilience, water management, agroecology, diversification of crops, and growing plant-based protein should be encouraged.

5. Instead of buying carbon credits from local communities, foreign banks should focus on long-term investments in local banks by buying their shares. It will lead to strengthening of local banks which can then undertake buying carbon credits from local communities, empowering both local banks and farmers with sustainable and locally led development.

6. Investors can aid in building long-term resilience by investing in projects aimed at mitigating climate change through patient-capital. Patient-capital, the more risk-tolerant and long-term funding, can encourage decarbonising technologies to develop and prosper over time.

7. As of today, less than 1.7 per cent of climate finance funds go to smallholder farmers. Digital climateinformed services have high potential to attract smallholder farmers and strengthen their resilience and productivity, and as a result, make the ecosystems better.

Innovative financing approaches 1. Investments need to shift from proposal-based to performance-related. There is an urgent need to develop the best mechanism for financial capital to incentivise long-term performances of projects which requires developing suitable metrics, that includes measuring for sustainable impact and financial returns.

2. Sole focus on tracking of carbon emissions is not enough. There could be more side-effects of assessments if not looked at comprehensively. A holistic system of evaluating projects impacts on soil, water and resources has to be developed.

3. The current metric for calculating carbon credits in the agriculture supply chain requires improvement.

Carbon credits are often double- or quadruple-counted leading to fallacy. For instance, one farmer could be growing certain crops and trading others resulting in the calculation of their double carbon emissions.

“We need a clearer roadmap for the agricultural and land use sector to meet climate goals, nature goals and food security goals. Such a roadmap will be vital for both policymakers and investors alike.

Moreover, e orts to reduce agricultural emissions must ensure they do not lead to trade-o s with other areas such as biodiversity loss and waste.”

– HELENA WRIGHT, Policy Director, FAIRR

PANEL 2: HOW DO WE PAVE AN EQUAL AND INCLUSIVE PATH TO NET ZERO AGRICULTURE? Speakers: Shailaja Fennell (Professor of Regional Transformation and Economic Security, University of Cambridge), Joshua Omonuk (Climate Change Activist, Rise Up Movement), Jyotsna Puri (Associate Vice-President, Strategy and Knowledge Department (SKD), IFAD), Madhura Swaminathan (Professor and Head of the Economic Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore), R Ramakumar (Professor, School of Development Studies. Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai), Moderator: Radhika Khosla (Associate Professor at the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford)

Smallholder farmers (typically defined as cultivating under 2 hectares of cropland) contribute to a third of global food production1 and are often not included in climate conversations. In the Indian context, these are below poverty line farmers who are highly dependent on subsidies and loans. Is it fair having conversations around Net Zero emissions with farmers lacking access to finance in an unequal food system? The panel discussed issues of social inclusivity in the agricultural sector and what Net Zero agriculture truly means to agrarian communities from the Global South. The panellists called for creating a new global narrative based on sharing cumulative carbon budgets and negative carbon emissions, creating increased accountability and ensuring carbon removal is correctly priced.

“Working with the grain”: Why is agriculture a problem and not a solution?

The panel discussed in depth about what Net Zero agriculture truly means to agrarian communities from the Global South. In the 21st century, we look to technology as a solution for most emerging issues, but does this essentially address the underlying risks involved?

For example, millets were traditionally conserved before the green revolution. They are easily cultivated and more resilient to climate change and can reduce greenhouse

gas emissions by 13%. Part of the ‘green revolution’ is ensuring that crops are matched to cropping conditions, ensuring greater variety and diversity which leads to greater crop health and resilience, but also working with farmers to cultivate crops that are better suited to arid conditions.

Expanding the cultivation of sorghum – a hardy crop highly suited to dry conditions – offers significant carbon sequestration benefits while in the ground, and manifold production benefits upon harvest, with sorghum usable as a foodstuff, animal feed, as a brewing ingredient, and even for bioplastics, bio-ethanol, and building materials.

Mitigation vs Adaptation Mitigating the impact of climate change is critical to the survival of our planet, but funding must also be mobilised toward pressing adaptation needs by reducing our vulnerability to the harmful effects of a changing climate already being felt on a local level. For every 18 USD invested towards mitigation, just 1 USD goes in for adaptation. These trends are despite evidence of the value of adaptation. The panel examined how this affects farmers by asking: Do small land holding farmers have adaptive capacity? The answer lies with the smallholder farmers themselves, who are often engaging in adaptation practices, but crucially bear the increased associated costs. These adaptive practices could be traditional in nature but need heeding towards an intergenerational success. This is where we question the scope of financing institutions for increasing income sources for small land holding farmers.

Managing agricultural productivity In order to get to Net Zero in agriculture, crop yields must rise in developing countries. With integrated nutrient and pest management, yield gaps can rise by up to 400 per cent, which in turn can lead to a reduction in poverty, especially among smallholder growers. Added to which, increased domestic production of staple crops in developing countries significantly reduces the dependency on imports, offering a secondary benefit around the ‘food miles’ and emissions wound up in lengthy food chains.

A scientifically managed agriculture is the way to Net Zero agriculture. But in India, just 0.5 per cent of agricultural GDP goes into scientific research. An increase in public agricultural research investment can be a major turning

point in understanding yield gaps and fertilizer use efficiency. The bigger question is how we escape from ‘productionism’ as an end in and of itself, and instead consider how Net Zero and climate positive outcomes can be prioritised in sustainable intensification.

Translation into different geographies In several developing world countries, land holdings are increasingly being managed by women as men move on to cities for better job opportunities. The resilience and vulnerability of these people must be taken into consideration during sustainable development mapping and modelling. Yet most of these communities are not properly financed to reach the SDGs and the climate crisis keeps pushing developing countries further into debt.

PANEL 3: COMPETING OR COLLABORATING? SYNERGIES BETWEEN RENEWABLE ENERGY AND AGRICULTURE FOR ACCELERATING NET ZERO Speakers: Zitouni Ould-Dada (Deputy Directory in the O e of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, FAO), Sue Hartley (Professor and Vice-President of Research, University of Sheffield) Patrick Holden (Founding Director, Sustainable Food Trust), Mark Campanale (Founder of the Carbon Tracker Initiative), Moderator: Kathy Willis (Professor of Biodiveristy and Principal of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford)

From how and why land is used to the availability of government subsidies for green industrial development, renewable energy infrastructure and sustainable agriculture have often been cast as uncomfortable – if not outright competing – fellows on the path to Net Zero. But with an increasing overlap in decarbonisation activity, the panel explored the synergies between renewable energy, agriculture, and wider green industrial development and made suggestions for greater collaboration.

The panellists stressed the need to address the vulnerabilities of the agriculture sector by improving the resilience of lifestyles, championing a range of innovation from regenerative farming to energy technology and mobilising capital towards supporting sustainable agriculture. Ultimately, they suggested farming systems must combine food security priorities with nutritional and economic security.

Intersections between renewable energy and agriculture 1. The panel highlighted the overlap between renewable energy systems and agriculture. In many instances it can lead to conflict such as in Kenya where the clean energy transition has been slowed by land disputes between ground mounted solar and agriculture.

2. Innovation can convert the intersections into mutually beneficial developments. An Agrovoltaic project1 in East Africa led by panellist Prof. Sue Hartley combines energy production, crop production and rainwater harvesting on a single plot of land. The power can be further used to process high value crops. The multilevel benefits counterbalance the increased cost of raised solar panels and reduce the pay-back period for local farmers leading to a win-win solution for agriculture and renewable energy. Such solutions can help with diversifying the income for farmers and improve resilience of the system.

Steps to scaling up successful interventions Significant overlap between energy and agriculture suggests that realistically, there will often be trade-offs to be made. However, the panel emphasized that many win-win solutions have been mobilised. Scaling up such solutions requires a multipronged approach: 1. The social aspect of scaling up requires specific action at a local level. Fostering a grassroot understanding of what locals, particularly women, want, combined with robust data collection and modelling to scale the food systems can improve uptake of technology.

Efficient local knowledge transfer, such as by farmers in Andhra Pradesh2 in India, serve as good local scale up pathways. Finally, the role of constructive communication is paramount to mobilizing citizens.

The Netflix documentary ‘Kiss the Ground’ is just one example of an effective demonstration of benefits that can help reduce the barrier for adoption for innovation.

2. Political will is imperative to providing regulatory support to farmers and consequently to the scale up process. Inclusion of various stakeholders such as renewable energy scientists, social scientists and agriculturalists in a collaborative approach to policy would safeguard the integrity of the system against isolated action that might counter the balance of synergistic benefits. Often, the separation between

closely related ministries can be counterproductive to efficient policymaking. Global redistribution of resources can be massively helpful to reducing the stress on agriculture: currently nearly one-third of global food production goes to waste with the global north being the dominant waste producer.

3. Financial systems need to be reengineered away from a dependence on traditional fossil fuel infrastructure. Currently there is little to no support for decarbonisation in developing markets such as Sub-Saharan Africa, and changing the investment mindset is critical to supporting renewable energy projects in these places. While examples such as the European Investment Bank’s Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (GEEREF) Fund-of-Funds have successfully brought together multilateral institutions and the private sector in the past, the scale of such ventures needs to rapidly increase. Private finance has the massive advantage of working fast in contrast to sluggish governmental machinery and needs to be incentivized to support decarbonisation especially for countries that want to leapfrog over fossil fuels.

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) brought together nearly 450 financial institutions in a global strategic alliance with a focus on mobilizing capital deployment to emerging and developing markets for decarbonization.

Closing by David Gann Offering closing remarks to the Symposium, Professor David Gann CBE, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Development and External Affairs and Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Saïd Business School, spoke about the importance of interdisciplinary efforts and action to solve common global challenges. The speech served as a timely reminder of why events such as the OpenAg Symposium, that brings together so many different strata of civil society, from government to private sector, from NGOs to climate activists, are needed.

1. https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/news/new-ps14m-project-improve-east-african-energy-supply-through-agrivoltaics 2. https://naturalfarming.niti.gov.in/andhra-pradesh/

CONFERENCE RAPPORTEURS: Aavika Dhanda, DPhil candidate in Zoology, University of Oxford Apoorva Kulkarni, DPhil candidate in Zoology, University of Oxford Snigdha Lal, DPhil candidate in Physics, University of Oxford RESOURCES: Visit http://openag.some.ox.ac.uk/videos to watch the panel discussions in full.

Disclaimer: This is a working report that may be subject to revisions based on feedback.