Critical insights on carbon smart farming and achieving net zero together

How can the animal agriculture industry work with farmers to monitor and improve greenhouse gas emissions and advance sustainable farming methods?

It’s the biggest talking point of 2021, fuelled by COP26 and the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy. Ahead of the Animal AgTech Innovation Summit (October 19-20), ADM Animal Nutrition, The Yield Lab Europe and TerraProtein Equity share their views on the carbon footprint impacting the animal protein sector.

Pierre-Joseph Paoli, President, Feed Ingredients and Additives, ADM ANIMAL NUTRITION, FRANCE: “As part of the Cool Farm Alliance, ADM belongs to a group of over 100 members committed to measuring their carbon footprint with the Cool Farm Tool. We are working with farmers in Europe to use the Cool Farm Tool to pinpoint where the majority of greenhouse gases are being emitted at the farm level. Baseline measures inform where to focus efforts to minimize our carbon footprint. We can quantify improvement over time and increase the sustainability performance throughout the supply chain. Robust data collection and a standardized calculation methodology along the chain supports the integrity of reduced-carbon claims. Measuring and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in agriculture is a transversal topic today. Our industry needs to increase collaborations so we can standardize measurement tools and determine best practices to reduce GHG emissions. The carbon credit market could be an opportunity to create extra income for the producers of animal protein with low carbon emissions, thereby creating a virtuous circle of investment in sustainable practices. But for this to work, the carbon price needs to be at a high enough level to compensate for the cost of the practices that will achieve reductions, including raw material sourcing, farm management and feed additives.”

Nicky Deasy, Managing Partner, THE YIELD LAB EUROPE, IRELAND: “As extreme weather events continue their grip on the planet, scientists agree that reducing methane and ammonia emissions would have a disproportionate impact on tackling global warming and climate change. Methane is 86 times more warming than CO2 per tonne, while ammonia is 300 times. ​​Animal agriculture is a major source of both. Technologies to enable farmers to produce animal protein with low methane and ammonia footprints are being developed to enable the world to reach net-zero. Animal agriculture has a key role to play in the climate change transition and must embrace this agenda as an opportunity.”

Bor Boer, CEO, TERRAPROTEIN EQUITY, NETHERLANDS: “We need reliable measurements into how technologies can reduce or capture carbon and combine new practices or technologies with restoring biodiversity and the requirement to feed a growing world population.”