As I look back on a busy Q1 conference schedule for agriculture and food, it’s impossible to overlook the fact that that sustainability is overtly everywhere. During my time at NCBA, the Meat Conference and Commodity Classic, I found myself amazed and encouraged at the number of climate solutions on offer from startups and legacy companies alike. Sustainability has seeped into a stunning volume of messages and monikers from food manufacturers, CPGs and nearly every other link in the value chain.
It's perfect timing. A new analysis by the UN’s climate scientists says the world is on track to surpass a significant level of warming in the next 10 years. That’s despite some of the real progress that has been made to reduce our carbon footprint.
This means the window for action to avert a climate crisis is closing. There is a real sense of urgency for us in this space to accelerate our work. Luckily, we have opportunity to do so. At the Trust In Food Symposium earlier this year, NRCS Chief Terry Cosby called the government’s climate spending a “once-in-a-lifetime investment into conservation.” The agency is engaging the public and non-profit sectors like never before to help drive change on the ground.
With this opportunity comes a serious responsibility to affect meaningful change at scale to help preserve a food production system that is the envy of the world. Most farmers simply aren’t prepared to mitigate the risk of extreme weather events. From droughts to floods, our weather is becoming more severe. Farmers need to build resiliency into their production systems to maintain their margins, output and viability.
Tyson Foods' launch of its Climate-Smart Beef Program is one example of how the private sector is helping producers meet climate challenges. They will do so through incentives and an accounting framework. The program will incentivize producers who adopt practices that help reduce GHG emissions and, as a result, "rebuild and enrich the soil, absorb more carbon and retain more water, promote healthy grasslands and improve biodiversity," as Dr. Justin Ransom and Chad Martin explain in a post at The Feed.
Tyson will use data and technology to track beef emissions at the individual animal level and work with its feedlot partners to share the data with producers. And they’ve created a new market for climate-smart beef: Brazen Beef is the first beef product to earn USDA approval for a climate-friendly claim. This is because it demonstrates a "10% GHG reduction from pasture to production against the standard emissions for conventionally raised beef," the company notes.
With these programs, Tyson meets several producer needs. The company provides incentives on the front end to subsidize practice change. It offers technical support and data management to drive best practices and accounting mechanisms. It opens access to a market that rewards producers for their operational innovation.
For climate-smart agriculture to succeed, it’s imperative that the entire value chain devise and deploy producer-centered innovation. Our Human Dimensions of Change work reinforces the need for a farmer-first mentality if we truly want agriculture to be seen as a solution to the world’s rapidly changing climate.
Yours in regenerative ag,
Amy Skoczlas Cole
President, Trust In Food™
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