Agricultural innovation is key to climate change action

The Crop Protection Association has welcomed a new report1 from WWF-UK and the Food Climate Research Network as an important step forward in questioning the widely held belief that organic production alone holds the key to combating climate change in the agriculture and food production sector.

The report How Low Can We Go? examines the food chain’s contribution to current greenhouse gas emissions and identifies the scope for reduction over the next 40 years.

Importantly, the report suggests that a combination of production and consumption measures will be required, stressing that ’there is little scope for emission reductions through the exclusion of production technologies – for example through the widespread adoption of organic farming.’

As the first study of its kind to include the contribution of land use change overseas in producing food for the UK, the report concludes that food accounts for 30% of the UK’s carbon footprint, significantly higher than previous estimates of around 20%.

To play its part in keeping average global temperature rises below 2°C, the report warns that food chain emissions need to be cut by at least 70% by 2050. This is achievable, say the report’s authors, but will require major changes in food production technology and consumption patterns.

All sectors of the UK food chain give rise to emissions, and the report highlights three key areas for climate change action:

- decarbonising the energy used in the food chain – through changes to fertiliser manufacture, farming operations, food processing and distribution which are currently dependent on fossil fuels;

- making the industry more efficient, from field to fork – including use of technology to increase crop yields and improve livestock feed conversion;

- changing our eating habits – to reduce consumption of meat and dairy products.

"This report is a significant and thought-provoking contribution to the climate change debate, and the first from a respected environmental NGO to acknowledge that a wholesale switch to organic farming systems is certainly not the most effective way to reduce food-related greenhouse gas emissions," said Dominic Dyer, CPA chief executive.

Last year a report by Cranfield University2 found that the yield benefit of modern crop protection products offered net CO2 savings, and that pesticides were a relatively minor contributor to overall greenhouse gas emissions. The Cranfield report was commissioned by CPA to review published research into the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the manufacture and use of pesticides. It concluded that the yield increases attributed to pesticide use allow a tenfold saving in CO2 equivalent per hectare relative to the CO2 emitted as a consequence of producing pesticides.

"We accept the report’s conclusion that achieving significant reductions in emissions will involve radical structural change throughout the supply chain, from energy use through to the way we produce and consume food.

"It may be counter-intuitive for many, but there is firm evidence that the adoption of more intensive farming practices, including the responsible use of modern crop protection products, offers the most effective route to mitigate and cope with the effects of climate change, while at the same time increasing production in line with global food needs," concluded Mr Dyer.