DSM co-CEO on Thursday highlighted the deep connection between climate change and food systems, stressing the importance of moving quickly and using technology to meet the challenges they create.
Speaking to CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe”, Geraldine Matchett said food systems were “one of the major causes of climate change, with about 25% of … greenhouse gases coming from agricultural space and food. ” They were also, he said, “one of the biggest victims.”
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “food systems” encompass everything from production and processing to distribution, consumption and disposal.
One of the key nuisances is agriculture, which is prone to being affected by climate change. In fact, the FAO has described climate change as having “both direct and indirect effects on agricultural productivity, including changes in rainfall patterns, drought, floods and the geographical redistribution of pests and diseases.”
Given the above, it is not surprising that many consider the challenge of producing enough food enormous, while at the same time adapting to climate change and mitigating the environmental footprint of agriculture.
At the end of this year, these issues will be addressed in detail at the COP26 conference on climate change and the United Nations Food Systems Summit in Glasgow and New York, respectively.
In the face of these events, Matchett described himself as “very optimistic”. He added: “When there is a finding that there is urgency, but there is also a lot of innovation that is already here to solve it, we can move forward.”
Matchett went on to explain how he believed a renewed focus would be on agriculture at COP26.
“I think one of the key actions that will be promoted … is for each country to incorporate agricultural space into its goals,” he said.
There is a “very understandable reason why it was very difficult at first: it is because the food space is not a few large companies or corporations, they are millions of farmers, they are millions of families.”
Recognizing the scope of this area was very broad, Matchett also addressed how things could change for the better through carbon sequestration and other technologies related to agriculture and livestock.
The U.S. Geological Survey describes carbon sequestration as “the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide.” Breaking things down a bit more, carbon capture can take place naturally (through forests, for example) or through human-developed artificial engineering systems.
“There are many things where you can turn the farming community into heroes to help address climate change and at the same time be better,” he added. “So there’s a great opportunity, and that’s what’s nice about this space: it’s full of opportunities.”
Ideas and innovation
Perhaps an example of this is the Cauca Climate-Smart Village project in Colombia, an initiative focused on the development of agricultural practices that are expected to be sustainable and resilient to future challenges.
Ana Maria Loboguerrero is Head of Global Policy Research at the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.
In an interview with CNBC last year, Loboguerrero said the project in the Cauca co-generated evidence with farmers about “practices, technologies, that can help us increase productivity and food security, that can help us to increase climate change adaptation and variability and this can help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “
On Wednesday, during a roundtable discussion at the World Economic Forum, moderated by CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick, the idea of using new technologies and innovations in agriculture was reinforced by PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta.
“The concept of demonstration farms is proving to be very powerful,” he said.
“So building demonstration farms where we have the new techniques and where … neighborhood farmers are going to learn from their peers, that’s a huge concept (and) we have a lot of demonstration farms around the world.”
“(The) second concept we’re working on, with the World Economic Forum and some other colleagues, is innovation centers,” Laguarta said.
“There’s a lot of money … a lot of ingenuity, getting into fintechs in other fields … not enough in agritech,” he continued.
“And I think we can play a role (big companies with the public sector as well) in building innovation centers, in bringing technology and innovation closer to farmers.”