As the world faces a range of unprecedented challenges, building more resilient food systems to support the global population is increasing in its importance.
The best strategies to adopt and implement at scale were discussed by a panel of food industry experts at Newsweek’s The Future of Food and Agriculture Forum in New York City.
“Working with nature has become more unpredictable, [with] erratic weather events. You also have the challenge of water, too much water, too little water,” Florence Henry, global head of sustainability at Nestle, told Newsweek's guests.
Erratic weather and issues with water are two major problems farmers face these days, but increasing costs are another concern. From fertilizer to diesel fuel, “Input prices are crazy this year,” explained Dominique Lawrie, global head of sustainability at Bunge, an agricultural solutions company that helps connect farmers to consumers.
He continued: “The price volatility of the commodities itself, their profit and loss,, the money that they need, they just don’t know whether to invest now, whether to sell now, whether to buy now. It’s all very confusing.”
But what can farmers actually do to cope with erratic weather and endlessly increasing prices? A series of regenerative agricultural strategies like minimizing tillage, rotating crops, interplanting and even integrating livestock could be the answer. These practices can dramatically improve soil health, boosting yields while lowering costs and even making a difference in climate change.
Farmers can offset so-called anthropogenic emissions, or those created by human activities, by sequestering carbon directly in the ground. “Let’s talk about how we improve soil health. And with soil health, we can reduce the energy needed to grow the crop,” said Jay McEntire, the CEO and co-founder of Arva Intelligence, a company that’s aiming to make regenerative agriculture the industry standard.
The CEO explained that the higher the organic matter, the more you put into the soil, the greater the drought resistance and fertility. One of the farmers McEntire’s worked with had soil with 6% organic matter, which provides greatly enhanced drought resistance. In comparison, his farm, which was only 15 miles away, had just 1.5% organic matter when he started. That’s a big difference in water-holding capacity and the amount of carbon in the soil.
McEntire said the farmers they’ve helped implement regenerative practices use less fertilizer and energy, which has saved them millions of dollars. “The velocity of $1 at the local community is really high, so we keep that money in that community and don’t ship it out of the country to import fertilizer,” another major benefit for local areas he explained.
“And in the same way, we wouldn’t compromise our quality from a food safety perspective. We’re not going to compromise sustainability to save a few short-term dollars, because that’s going to bite in the long term,” explained Alastair Child, chief sustainability officer at Mars Incorporated. “Mars puts a value on crops that are grown in a sustainable, regenerative way that have lower carbon emissions associated with them. We absolutely put a value on that, fully embedded into the sourcing contract with our suppliers,” he added. This means that at Mars, any costs associated with regenerative agriculture are already accounted for.
And it’s a similar story at rival Nestle. “We have a big commitment on regenerative agriculture. That’s really something we believe in, and we have already made great progress,” said Henry. “So, 25% of all the ingredients on 14 different commodities that we source is already sourced from regenerative agriculture farms, and it’s going to be 50% by 2030.” For a company as large as Nestle, you can imagine this makes a huge impact.
Firms like Mars and Nestle see the value in more eco-friendly agriculture, but standards still need to be codified. Lawrie mentioned the industry needs to agree on a set of practices to help define exactly what regenerative agriculture is “to prevent greenwashing accusations.” Another reason this sort of framework is needed, she added, is that farming is super local, and what works in one area may not be an option in another. She said the regenerative practices used on a 50,000-hectare megafarm in Brazil could be totally different from what’s needed on a 15-hectare plot in Hungary.
Longer-term planning could also be critical in building more resilient food systems along with acknowledging that “ecosystem benefit has value,” said McEntire. “Farming is local. It is local, local, local,” meaning it is totally different depending on location. Sustainability strategies need to be tailored to each region.
“I think as a company we often start thinking about the raw material that we buy, right? We might say, ‘Okay, how do I ensure my wheat is sustainable?’ And you come up with a wheat sustainable sourcing program,” noted Child. “But in truth, I think the breakthrough comes when you don’t start with Mars and you don’t start with wheat. You start with the farmer, their business, their livelihood, their land.”
The panelists agreed: Focusing on farmers and the health of the soil they steward could be key to fostering regenerative agriculture and ultimately building more resilient food systems.