tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/sustainable-farming-59764/articlesSustainable farming – The Conversation2024-03-19T14:03:12Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2259922024-03-19T14:03:12Z2024-03-19T14:03:12ZCocoa beans are in short supply: what this means for farmers, businesses and chocolate lovers<p><em>A <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/african-cocoa-plants-run-out-beans-global-chocolate-crisis-deepens-2024-03-13/">shortage</a> of cocoa beans has led to a near shutdown of processing plants in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, the two countries responsible for <a href="https://theconversation.com/cocoa-prices-are-surging-west-african-countries-should-seize-the-moment-to-negotiate-a-better-deal-for-farmers-214305">60% of global production</a>. With chocolate makers around the world reliant on west Africa for cocoa, there is significant concern about the impact on the prices of chocolate and the livelihood of farmers. Cocoa researcher Michael Odijie explains the reasons for the shortage.</em></p>
<h2>Why has cocoa production declined sharply in west Africa?</h2>
<p>Three factors are at play: environmental, economic cycle related and human. </p>
<p>One environmental factor is the impact of the El Niño weather phenomenon, which has caused drier weather in west Africa. It has contributed to problems on farms, such as the swollen shoot virus disease. As a result, Ghana has lost harvests from nearly <a href="https://thecocoapost.com/ghana-loses-over-500000-hectares-of-cocoa-farms-to-swollen-shoot-disease/">500,000 hectares</a> of land in recent years.</p>
<p>The economic cycle of cocoa production refers to the inherent patterns of expansion and contraction in cocoa farming. For example, as cocoa trees age, they become susceptible to diseases, requiring high maintenance costs. Historically, farmers have tended to abandon old farms and start anew in fresh forests. Unfortunately, finding new forests is now increasingly difficult. Perhaps the most severe issue of all is the lack of fair compensation for sustainable cocoa production</p>
<p>The human factor includes challenges such as illegal mining, which has overtaken numerous farms in Ghana. Sometimes, farmers lease their land to illegal miners in exchange for payment. These mining activities degrade the quality of the land, making it unsuitable for cocoa cultivation. </p>
<p>The global market for chocolate and chocolate products is on the <a href="https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/cocoa-and-chocolate-market-100075">rise</a>. It is projected to grow faster than <a href="https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/chocolate-market#:%7E:text=The%20global%20chocolate%20market%20size,key%20driver%20of%20the%20market.">4% annually</a> over the next few years. This growing demand for cocoa underscores the urgency in addressing the intertwined issues that relate to the industry’s sustainability.</p>
<h2>Have west African governments intervened to help cocoa farmers?</h2>
<p>In February 2024, the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod), regulator of the country’s cocoa sector, secured a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ghanas-cocobod-taps-200-mln-world-bank-loan-rebuild-disease-hit-cocoa-farms-2024-02-16/">World Bank loan</a> of US$200 million to rehabilitate plantations affected by the cocoa swollen shoot virus. The board will take over the disease-ridden farms, remove and replace the afflicted cocoa trees, and nurture the new plantings to the fruiting stage before returning them to the farmers.</p>
<p>This practice of Cocobod taking out loans to assist farmers is a longstanding one in Ghana. For instance, in 2018, Cocobod <a href="https://thecocoapost.com/cocobod-afdb-loan/">used part</a> of a $600 million loan from the African Development Bank to rehabilitate aging plantations and those hit by diseases. And at the start of the current harvest season in October, the <a href="https://www.cighci.org/ghana-announces-cocoa-producer-price-for-2023-24-crop-season/">producer price was raised</a>: farmers are paid more, a move made inevitable by the surge in global prices. Also, Ghana Cocobod has established a <a href="https://starrfm.com.gh/2024/03/cocobod-taskforce-arrests-illegal-mining-gang-leaders-in-atobrakrom/">task force</a> to shield cocoa farms from the harmful impacts of mining. It has cooperated with police to stem the smuggling of cocoa to neighbouring countries, particularly those that offer a stronger currency.</p>
<p>In Côte d'Ivoire, relatively little action has been taken. It appears the government is still assessing the situation. But there have been <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-02-16/ivory-coast-seizes-100-tons-of-cocoa-at-the-border-with-guinea">measures</a> to curb smuggling of cocoa, prompted by the fact that the shortage is driving up prices in neighbouring countries. Côte d'Ivoire does benefit from numerous sustainability programmes initiated by multinational corporations. The current shortage has accelerated these initiatives. Regrettably, some of the programmes do not disclose their data, making it difficult for academics to access and analyse their information.</p>
<p>African governments have yet to address significant structural issues in their interventions.</p>
<h2>How have cocoa farmers and cocoa-producing countries’ economies been affected?</h2>
<p>At the farm level, although the rise in prices may initially appear beneficial to farmers, the reality is not straightforward. A decrease in output leads to fewer harvests on average, which means that, overall, farmers are not earning more. This issue is compounded by recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghanas-economic-crisis-expert-insights-into-how-things-got-so-bad-and-what-the-fixes-are-193153">economic challenges in west Africa</a>, such as high inflation and currency devaluation, particularly in Ghana. These factors have resulted in farmers becoming poorer.</p>
<p>Another impact of the output decline is a reduction in local processing. Major African processing facilities in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana have either ceased operations or reduced their processing capacity because they cannot afford to purchase beans. This likely means that chocolate prices worldwide will surge. This, in turn, adversely affects the local production units that have been emerging in recent years. </p>
<p>However, the bargaining power of west African cocoa-producing countries seems to have increased. Now is an opportune moment for these nations to unite and negotiate more favourable terms for their cocoa farmers. </p>
<h2>Will chocolate makers eventually turn to cocoa alternatives?</h2>
<p>It’s inevitable because continuing to cultivate cocoa under current conditions is unsustainable. I don’t perceive this negatively; I hope it occurs sooner rather than later. In fact, it is already underway with the rise of cocoa butter equivalents, cocoa extenders and artificial flavours (synthetic or nature-identical flavours that mimic the taste of chocolate without the need for cocoa). </p>
<p>The German company Planet A Foods is a leader in this area. It produces cocoa-free chocolate, using technology to transform ingredients such as oats and sunflower seeds into substitutes for cocoa mass and butter. </p>
<p>Overall, this is beneficial for everyone. The demand for cocoa has <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-real-cost-of-your-chocolate-habit-new-research-reveals-the-bittersweet-truth-of-cocoa-farming-in-africas-forests-206082">resulted</a> in mass deforestation and significant carbon emissions, issues that are likely to worsen due to climate change. Moreover, the push for cultivation has led to various forms of labour abuses. Exploring cocoa alternatives is certainly part of the solution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael E Odijie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Major African cocoa plants in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana have stopped or cut processing because they cannot afford to buy beans.Michael E Odijie, Research associate, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2239012024-03-08T13:35:19Z2024-03-08T13:35:19ZWhy are farmers up in arms? The view from Wales<p>Across Europe, farmers are protesting against changes to regulations and subsidy schemes. Smaller protests have spread through the UK – particularly in Wales, where thousands have turned out to air their grievances with the recent update to the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS). </p>
<p>This is the Welsh government’s proposed scheme to replace the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP), which dedicated the majority of its budget to payments for every hectare of land managed. The new scheme aims to give farmers public money for public goods – in other words, pay farmers from the public purse for the ecosystem services they provide that aren’t remunerated through the sale of produce. These include carbon sequestration, the maintenance of habitats, and the preservation of cultural landmarks.</p>
<p>To receive payments from the new voluntary scheme, farmers must comply with 17 actions that are aimed at improving biodiversity and general farm management.</p>
<p>Farmers have taken particular exception to the requirement to have 10% of their land under tree cover. Typically, this will not include hedgerows, as the aim is to increase the size and number of woodlands on farms. On top of this, farmers will be required to manage 10% of their land for semi-natural habitat, such as species-rich grasslands. Organisations such as Coed Cadw (Woodland Trust Cymru) <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/press-centre/2024/02/welsh-farm-tree-cover-requirement/">stress</a> that tree cover on the average Welsh farm is already around 6-7%.</p>
<p>The tree planting requirement, however, may be difficult for tenant farmers, who will need permission from landowners, while those with mortgages might be refused by banks as tree planting could reduce land values.</p>
<p>At a recent event I attended in Narberth in South Wales, the president of the National Farmers’ Union Cymru, Aled Jones, said the 10% requirements are too much and would hit food production (the UK already <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021-theme-2-uk-food-supply-sources">imports</a> around 46% of its food) and the rural economy. There is also the continuation of the Welsh language to consider: <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/consultations/2023-12/sustainable-farming-scheme-Integrated-impact-assessment.pdf">43%</a> of agricultural workers speak Welsh, the highest of any industry by far.</p>
<h2>Economic crisis is brewing</h2>
<p>Governments are obliged to meet <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-scientists-concept-of-net-zero-is-a-dangerous-trap-157368">net zero</a> targets while farmers are clinging to their livelihoods in a difficult economic climate. Farmers receive very little of the retail value of their produce. Dairy farmers in the UK typically receive less than <a href="https://www.sustainweb.org/reports/dec22-unpicking-food-prices/">1p</a> of the retail value of a 480g block of cheese. </p>
<p>Production costs are rising globally. Prices of feed, fuel and fertiliser have soared along with interest rates and energy costs, making it harder than ever to turn a profit. Many farmers could go out of business if their subsidy income falls, <a href="https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Agriculture/Farm-Business-Survey/farmincome-by-farmsize">particularly on smaller farms</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/consultations/2023-12/potential-economic-effects-of-the-scheme-phase-4-universal-actions-modelling-results.pdf">Research</a> commissioned by the Welsh government suggests the new scheme will shrink farm incomes and cause an overall annual hit of £199 million (US$250 million) to the Welsh farming economy. It predicts that livestock numbers will decrease, with an associated loss of farm jobs. </p>
<p>And this figure doesn’t include the indirect impact on rural economies, which are often highly dependent on farming. It comes after years of UK farmers being told they’ll be financially supported to make a green transition. Many feel a sense of betrayal. The exact payment details for SFS won’t be announced until later in 2024, and this uncertainty is making many anxious.</p>
<p>With declining subsidy levels, some UK farmers will be <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2023/04/eat-profits-england-food-system-focused-over-sustainability-new-scheme#:%7E:text=A%20democratic%20vision%20for%20England's%20tormented%20farmlands.&text=It%20is%20a%20poorly%20hidden,It's%20about%20creating%20profits.">forced to sell up</a>. Some farms are already being bought by large investment funds for timber production and the sale of carbon credits to companies looking to “offset” their emissions, a practice that has been <a href="https://rdcu.be/dyZAX">criticised</a> as <a href="https://policy.friendsoftheearth.uk/insight/dangerous-distraction-offsetting-con">greenwashing</a>. One <a href="https://fghl-ar-online-summary.foresightgroup.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/FGHL_AR23_web.pdf">investment firm</a> has already purchased several Welsh farms with the stated aim of buying as much as <a href="https://media.umbraco.io/foresight/fwsolvv0/foresight-sustainable-forestry-company-plc-prospectus.pdf">166,000 hectares in Wales</a>, which would make it one of the country’s largest landowners.</p>
<h2>A new form of politics</h2>
<p>We are witnessing the limits of a green transition constrained by <a href="https://undisciplinedenvironments.org/2020/09/15/19570/">austerity</a>, which in this case forces the onus of decarbonisation onto individual farm businesses. This is instead of tackling the systemic challenges.</p>
<p>Government investment in Welsh agriculture has <a href="https://business.senedd.wales/documents/s142927/WGDB_24-25%2010%20NFU%20Cymru.pdf">declined</a> in real terms over the last decade. Farmers are concerned that funding for the new scheme will not continue far enough into the future to make it worthwhile planting trees and creating habitats. A low uptake, with many farms instead being sold, may not be a bad thing for the Welsh government if it only seeks to reduce public spending and emissions from agriculture. This would also make more land available for forestry, which will help Wales reach its tree-planting <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/statistics-and-research/2023-11/workshops-to-discuss-the-future-of-tree-planting-with-welsh-farmers.pdf">targets</a>.</p>
<p>However, if food production declines, more food will be imported, which merely displaces the environmental consequences of food production to other parts of the world. Alternatives such as agroforestry could <a href="https://www.iddri.org/sites/default/files/PDF/Publications/Catalogue%20Iddri/Etude/202111-ST1021-TYFA%20UK_0.pdf">bridge the gap</a> between these competing demands, with trees aiding, not hindering, food production. One example, called <a href="https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/about-agroforestry/silvopasture/">silvopasture</a>, involves planting rows of trees in fields at regular intervals, allowing animals to graze or crops to be cultivated either side.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cattle grazing among trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579869/original/file-20240305-26-2mrqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579869/original/file-20240305-26-2mrqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579869/original/file-20240305-26-2mrqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579869/original/file-20240305-26-2mrqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579869/original/file-20240305-26-2mrqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579869/original/file-20240305-26-2mrqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579869/original/file-20240305-26-2mrqkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cattle grazing in a grove near Lake Vänern, Sweden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/concept-agroforestry-silvopasture-exemplified-by-grazing-1830249536">UllrichG/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A farming system transition will take time, requiring wider reforms and greater economic security for farmers. Given that the UK is the world’s <a href="https://cdn.forestresearch.gov.uk/2023/09/Ch9_International_FS2023.pdf">third-largest</a> importer of timber products, and only <a href="https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/forestry-statistics-2023/2023-1-woodland-area-and-planting/">15%</a> of Wales is forested compared with <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Forests,_forestry_and_logging#Forest_areas_in_the_EU_are_expanding">39%</a> of total EU land, more trees are needed. But it is counterproductive for the Welsh government to alienate farmers – the scheme needs to take into account the constraints being placed on them. </p>
<p>European farmers’ protests have already led to governments relinquishing some of the proposed changes, such as <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68218907">scrapping plans</a> to halve pesticide use. But while frustration is justifiable among farmers, the urgent need to tackle climate and ecological breakdown remains.</p>
<p>The scale of this challenge demands a new form of politics, rooted not in austerity but renewed public spending on food and farming systems, combined with prompt action against the parts of the supply chain that are hoarding all the profits.</p>
<p>Supermarkets continue to post eye-watering profits, while farmers endure low prices and consumers face <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/02/uk-supermarkets-face-calls-for-profiteering-investigation-as-inflation-soars">high prices</a> from profiteering. The answer isn’t to renounce decarbonisation or environmental regulations. The answer is to fight for a just green transition, where farmers are better supported to make the necessary changes towards a more socially and ecologically just food system.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Heffron does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Green reforms are piling additional pressure on farmers struggling to make ends meet.Alex Heffron, PhD Candidate in Geography, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2039222023-05-09T05:05:29Z2023-05-09T05:05:29Z‘Regenerative agriculture’ is all the rage – but it’s not going to fix our food system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525041/original/file-20230509-23-89ksn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4947%2C2791&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Decades of <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/75659">industrial agriculture</a> have caused environmental and social damage across the globe. Soils have deteriorated and plant and animal species are disappearing. Landscapes are degraded and small-scale farmers are struggling. It’s little wonder we’re looking for more sustainable and just ways of growing food and fibre.</p>
<p>Regenerative agriculture is one alternative <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0030727021998063">creating</a> a lot of buzz, especially in rich, industrially developed countries. </p>
<p>The term “regenerative agriculture” was coined in the 1970s. It’s generally understood to mean farming that improves, rather than degrades, landscape and ecological processes such as water, nutrient and carbon cycles. </p>
<p>Today, regenerative agriculture is promoted strongly by multinational food companies, advocacy groups and some parts of the farming community. And the Netflix documentary <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81321999">Kiss the Ground</a> features celebrity activists <a href="https://kisstheground.com">promoting</a> the regenerative agriculture movement.</p>
<p>But as <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10460-023-10444-4">our new research</a> shows, regenerative agriculture may not be the transformation our global food system needs.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="machines harvest soybean crop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Industrial farming has left vast swathes of land degraded.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Farming must change</h2>
<p>About <a href="https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2022-04/UNCCD_GLO2_low-res_2.pdf">20-40%</a> of the global land area is degraded. Agriculture caused 80% of global deforestation in recent decades and comprises 70% of freshwater use. It is the biggest driver of biodiversity loss on land and contributes <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/08/4.-SPM_Approved_Microsite_FINAL.pdf">significantly</a> to greenhouse gas emissions. </p>
<p>Global corporations such as Nestlé, PepsiCo, Cargill and Bayer <a href="https://www.etcgroup.org/sites/www.etcgroup.org/files/files/blockingthechain_english_web.pdf">dominate</a> the food system. Some 70% of the global agrochemicals market is owned by just four companies and 90% of global grain trade is dominated by four businesses. This gives these corporations immense power.</p>
<p>Many small-scale farmers struggle to compete in global markets – especially those in poorer, less developed countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In an effort to keep up, these farmers also often go into debt to buy chemicals and expensive machinery to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00297-7">boost production</a>.</p>
<h2>What’s regenerative agriculture?</h2>
<p>Regenerative agriculture is proposed as a more sustainable alternative to industrial agriculture. It can include practices such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>integrating livestock into cropping systems to replenish soil and reduce the cost of animal feed and fertiliser</li>
<li>leaving soil undisturbed and covered with plants to retain carbon, moisture and nutrients and reduce erosion</li>
<li>regularly moving livestock between paddocks to give pasture a chance to recover </li>
<li>using less synthetic chemicals in farming.</li>
</ul>
<p>But can regenerative agriculture transform the global food system? Our research examined this question.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="cows grazing in field" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Regenerative agriculture can involve rotating livestock between pastures to increase soil health.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Our research findings</h2>
<p>We explored the origins and current status of regenerative agriculture. We then compared this to other sustainable farming approaches: organic agriculture, conservation agriculture, sustainable intensification, and agroecology.</p>
<p>We found regenerative agriculture shares many similarities with the first three movements listed above. Most importantly, it originated in the rich, industrially developed <a href="https://ipes-food.org/_img/upload/files/SmokeAndMirrors.pdf">Global North</a>, primarily North America, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/land-of-opportunity-more-sustainable-australian-farming-would-protect-our-lucrative-exports-and-the-planet-166177">Land of opportunity: more sustainable Australian farming would protect our lucrative exports (and the planet)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This means the movement often fails to credit Indigenous practices it draws from. It also tends to overlook the needs of farmers in the Global South and broader power inequality in the food system. </p>
<p>Like some other movements, regenerative agriculture is increasingly being embraced by corporations. <a href="https://www.nestle.com/csv/regeneration/regenerative-agriculture">Nestlé</a>, for instance, aims to source 50% of its key ingredients through regenerative agriculture by 2030. </p>
<p>There are concerns companies may be using regenerative agriculture to “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/can-regenerative-agriculture-reverse-climate-change-big-food-banking-it-n1072941">greenwash</a>” their image. For example, experts <a href="http://www.ipes-food.org/pages/smokeandmirrors">warn</a> corporations could be using the term to repackage existing commitments, rather than substantially improving their systems.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1359766620411842564"}"></div></p>
<h2>Agroecology: a different path</h2>
<p>We also found that regenerative agriculture is threatening to marginalise another promising sustainable farming movement: agroecology.</p>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/agro/2009004">Agroecology</a> combines agronomy (agricultural science) and ecology, and also seeks to address injustice and inequity in food systems.</p>
<p>The movement is associated with the world’s largest smallholder farmer organisation, <a href="https://viacampesina.org/en/">La Via Campesina</a>, and has been endorsed by the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2020.1808705">United Nations</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="people march in protest holding sign in Spanish" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Agroecology is a global movement endorsed by the UN.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Agroecology advocates for Indigenous knowledge and land rights, and support for small-scale farmers. It seeks to <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/19/5272">challenge</a> neoliberalism, corporate dominance, and globalisation of food systems.</p>
<p>Some researchers <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305693875_How_to_feed_the_world_sustainably_an_overview_of_the_discourse_on_agroecology_and_sustainable_intensification">question</a> if agroecology alone can produce enough food for a growing global population. But <a href="https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2022-04/UNCCD_GLO2_low-res_2.pdf">80% of the world’s food</a>, in value terms, is produced by small family farms. And globally, we already grow enough food to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10440046.2012.695331">feed ten billion people</a>. The problem is how that food is distributed and wasted, and how much is made into <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/3/e008269">ultra-processed foods</a> and other products such as bio-fuels.</p>
<p>Agroecology brings many benefits to farmers and communities. An agroecology project in <a href="https://www.ipes-food.org/_img/upload/files/CS2_web.pdf">Chololo village</a> in Tanzania, for example, saw the number of households eating three meals per day rise from 29% to 62%. Average household income increased by 18%. The average period of food shortage shortened by 62% and agricultural yields increased by up to 70%.</p>
<p>But the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1051/agro/2009004">origins of the agroecology movement</a> in the Global South, and its resistance to corporatisation, mean it is often marginalised. At events such as the UN Food Systems Summit, for example, corporate stakeholders guide policy decisions while vulnerable farmers can <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/23/small-producers-boycott-un-food-summit-corporate-interests">feel sidelined</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="two men prepare soil" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Agroecology focuses on both ecological and social principles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Transforming our food systems</h2>
<p>Despite regenerative agriculture’s popularity and its focus on sustainable food production, it fails to tackle systemic social and political issues. As a result, the movement may perpetuate business-as-usual in the food system, rather than transform it.</p>
<p>But our food system includes many landscapes and cultures. That means regenerative agriculture could still support more sustainable farming in some settings – though it’s not a catch-all solution.</p>
<p>And voices in regenerative agriculture have <a href="https://www.greenamerica.org/native-growers-decolonize-regenerative-agriculture?fbclid=IwAR1zwXhFddjPALOCrCed0yPyGmgPsoG_CUMhsVRDMg64DqQ4l8ba27BirPU">called for</a> a shift in the movement’s agenda, putting more emphasis on equity, justice and diversity. So there is hope yet that the movement may help turn the tide against industrial agriculture. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cotton-on-one-of-australias-most-lucrative-farming-industries-is-in-the-firing-line-as-climate-change-worsens-191864">Cotton on: one of Australia's most lucrative farming industries is in the firing line as climate change worsens</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203922/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anja Bless receives funding from the Australian Government research training program. </span></em></p>We know industrial farming needs to change. But regenerative agriculture may not be the transformation our global food system needs.Anja Bless, PhD Candidate, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1661772021-08-22T20:06:51Z2021-08-22T20:06:51ZLand of opportunity: more sustainable Australian farming would protect our lucrative exports (and the planet)<p>The European Union is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-17/australian-exporters-pay-the-price-with-european-carbon-tax/100379998">pressing ahead</a> with carbon border levies – charges on carbon-intensive goods from countries such as Australia that haven’t taken strong action to reduce emissions. The EU will impose such measures on a range of imported industrial materials including aluminium, steel and cement. </p>
<p>But what if these tariffs are one day applied to another key Australian export industry: agriculture? As National Farmers’ Federation chief executive Tony Mahar <a href="https://www.farmonline.com.au/story/7348275/eu-carbon-tariff-avoids-ag-for-now-but-sector-cant-be-naive/">said</a> last month:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Business and governments across the world are embedding carbon abatement considerations into their trade negotiations and relationships. As an industry dependent on exporting, Australian agriculture must be ready to adjust to a more carbon-conscious trading future. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In addition to a substantial greenhouse gas footprint from agriculture, Australia also has a truly terrible record on <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337080985_Spending_to_save_What_will_it_cost_to_halt_Australia%27s_extinction_crisis">biodiversity loss</a>. The argument for farmers to adopt more sustainable practices – and for governments to help the shift – is growing ever more compelling. Not only would it safeguard our exports, it would cut emissions and help protect nature.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="aerial view of cows and ute" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C11%2C3758%2C2494&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416912/original/file-20210819-19-ge4pia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian farming must prepare for a more carbon-conscious future.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Looming carbon tariffs</h2>
<p>The EU policy, known formally as the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/green-taxation-0/carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism_en">Carbon Border Adjustment Measure</a>, aims to shield local industries operating under the EU’s emissions trading scheme and other similar policies. </p>
<p>From 2026, EU importers of some commodities must buy carbon certificates <a href="https://www.austrade.gov.au/news/insights/the-limited-impact-of-the-european-union-s-carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism-on-australian-agriculture">equivalent to</a> the cost that would have been incurred had the goods been produced under the EU’s emissions trading scheme. </p>
<p>The measure is meant to level the playing field – protecting EU companies from competition by producers in countries that don’t have carbon price regimes. The policy also pressures exporting countries to implement their own effective emissions policies.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-point-protesting-australia-faces-carbon-levies-unless-it-changes-course-155200">No point protesting, Australia faces carbon levies unless it changes course</a>
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</em>
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<p>Australia does not export large volumes of industrial commodities to Europe, so the <a href="https://cdn.aigroup.com.au/Reports/2021/Carbon_Border_Adjustments_Policy_Paper.pdf?_cldee=dGVubmFudC5yZWVkQGFpZ3JvdXAuY29tLmF1&recipientid=contact-7ddca4953c244fa7b29d57951052d4d8-0e0c0eaf389c455685f07176f427283e&esid=26f33b4a-56fe-eb11-94ef-00224810dcd3">immediate effect</a> of the carbon tariff will be small. However, in 2026 the EU will <a href="https://www.austrade.gov.au/news/insights/the-limited-impact-of-the-european-union-s-carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism-on-australian-agriculture">consider</a> extending the measure’s scope to other products. </p>
<p>Carbon tariffs could also be imposed by other countries Australia exports to, as they increasingly demand cleaner production of goods, and as the principle of free trade seemingly <a href="https://theconversation.com/was-2016-the-year-the-world-turned-its-back-on-free-trade-67240">diminishes</a> in importance. These tariffs could also apply to goods subject to regulation, in addition to emissions trading schemes.</p>
<p>There is no immediate prospect of a carbon tariff on agriculture. But as many countries toughen their emissions targets to 2030 and adopt or strengthen net-zero targets, agriculture could become part of the mix. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Eu flags with building in background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416917/original/file-20210819-15-ke30na.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The EU carbon border tariff aims to protect European producers operating under a carbon price.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">OLIVIER HOSLET/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Carbon levies on agriculture?</h2>
<p>Agriculture accounts for about 13% of Australia’s <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-12/australias-emissions-projections-2020.pdf">total greenhouse gas emissions</a>. The main source of emissions is methane from cattle and sheep. Others include rice fields, fertiliser use, agricultural waste and fuel use. </p>
<p>The industry is clearly sensitive to the problem. The National Farmers’ Federation has <a href="https://nff.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2020.08.06_Policy_NRM_Climate_Change.pdf">endorsed</a> an economy-wide net-zero “aspiration”. It’s also calling for investments in carbon-neutral agricultural technologies to, among other goals, develop new export markets. Meat and Livestock Australia has set a 2030 <a href="https://www.mla.com.au/globalassets/mla-corporate/research-and-development/documents/cn30-information-sheet-final.pdf">carbon-neutral goal</a> for the red meat industry. </p>
<p>If Australia’s major trading partners apply carbon tariffs to agricultural products in future, Australian farmers will have a big incentive to make production less emissions-intensive. Potential ways to achieve this include:</p>
<ul>
<li>better soil and native vegetation cover management</li>
<li>less fertiliser use</li>
<li>switching to lower-emitting sheep and cattle breeds</li>
<li>feed additives which make livestock emit less methane</li>
<li>moving from ruminant livestock to other sources of meat, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-us-ban-on-kangaroo-leather-would-be-an-animal-welfare-disaster-and-a-missed-farming-opportunity-155904">kangaroo</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>Such measures can result in <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/an/AN16438">increased agricultural productivity</a>. </p>
<p>There are two ways Australia can avoid a carbon tariff on agriculture exports. First, agriculture can adopt cleaner production methods and have its goods certified as produced with low emissions. Second, the federal government can implement a comprehensive emissions-reduction policy, which in agriculture might mean minimum production standards to avoid high emissions practices or a <a href="https://theconversation.com/carbon-pricing-works-the-largest-ever-study-puts-it-beyond-doubt-142034">carbon price</a> where practicable. </p>
<p>The existing Emissions Reductions Fund would not help avoid carbon tariffs. This is because it applies only to businesses that opt in, and it subsidises emission-reduction projects rather that placing obligations on those who generate emissions. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/carbon-pricing-works-the-largest-ever-study-puts-it-beyond-doubt-142034">Carbon pricing works: the largest-ever study puts it beyond doubt</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="farmer feeds cattle" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416923/original/file-20210819-13-1mpll7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Additives to stock feed can lead to fewer methane emissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tariffs on biodiversity loss?</h2>
<p>In future, environmental border tariffs could well extend to a broader set of environmental harms, such as biodiversity loss.</p>
<p>Australia’s record on species loss is truly <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337080985_Spending_to_save_What_will_it_cost_to_halt_Australia%27s_extinction_crisis">appalling</a> – including in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230817486_Impacts_of_red_meat_production_on_biodiversity_in_Australia_A_review_and_comparison_with_alternative_protein_production_industries">agricultural landscapes</a> which have been heavily modified.</p>
<p>Some countries are already using financial incentives to reduce damage to nature. For example, plans by the UK government would require farmers to demonstrate <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/30/environment-to-benefit-from-biggest-farming-shake-up-in-50-years">environmental improvements</a> to receive farming subsidies.</p>
<p>A key challenge for the agriculture sector is to simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve biodiversity outcomes. There are proven, <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7844/">science-based ways</a> to do this, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>protecting patches of remnant native vegetation which provides habitat for animals and helps draw down and store carbon from the atmosphere </li>
<li>creating <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0256089">healthy farm dams</a> which can provide higher-quality drinking water for livestock, improve farm productivity and create wildlife habitat</li>
<li>planting “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/emr.12303">shelterbelts</a>” – strips of woody vegetation that shelter livestock from wind and sun, provide wildlife habitat (when well designed and managed), and prevent moisture loss from soil. </li>
</ul>
<p>This integrated approach to agricultural production, climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation is being researched and championed by the Australian National University’s <a href="https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/">Sustainable Farms</a> project.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="girl runs past dam" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416921/original/file-20210819-26417-qy0w6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Changes the management of dams of farms can improve biodiversity and farm production.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Lorimer/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Future-proofing Australian farming</h2>
<p>The Australian government has recognised the need for farming solutions to both climate change and biodiversity loss. For example, it’s currently developing a <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/ag-farm-food/natural-resources/landcare/sustaining-future-australian-farming/carbon-biodiversity-pilot">stewardship program</a> to encourage farmers to improve environmental conditions on their land. </p>
<p>A crucial part of this and similar schemes will be establishing reliable systems for estimating and certifying farm emissions and biodiversity outcomes. Indeed, robust long-term monitoring is vital for such schemes to be seen as credible, nationally and internationally.</p>
<p>The opportunities are ripe for Australian farmers to adopt far more environmentally sustainable land management practices, and in the process, safeguard or even expand Australian agricultural exports.</p>
<hr>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-farmers-want-more-climate-action-and-theyre-starting-in-their-own-huge-backyards-144792">Australia's farmers want more climate action – and they’re starting in their own (huge) backyards</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank Jotzo leads and has led research projects funded by a variety of funders. He is the economics director at the Sustainable Farms project at The Australian National University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian Government, the Ian Potter Foundation, the William Buckland Foundation, the Australian Research Council, the Riverina Local land Services and Murray Local Land Services.
David Lindenmayer is a Research Director in the Sustainable Farms project at The Australian National University. </span></em></p>Adopting more environmentally conscious farm models would safeguard our agricultural exports, cut emissions and help protect nature.Frank Jotzo, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy and Head of Energy, Institute for Climate Energy and Disaster Solutions, Australian National UniversityDavid Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1658432021-08-16T16:38:19Z2021-08-16T16:38:19ZI’m a sheep and cattle farmer in England, and Brexit has left farmers in fear for their futures<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416069/original/file-20210813-19-fq5jct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fleeced?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/GHOiyov2TSQ">Sam Carter/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You either love him or hate him, but Jeremy Clarkson’s documentary series about trying to get to grips with sheep rearing, tractor driving and running a farm shop at Diddly Squat Farm has certainly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/jul/22/clarksons-farm-best-thing-jeremy-clarkson-has-done-amazon">found an audience</a>. </p>
<p>As someone who lives and works on the family farm and experiences the harsh realities in the show, I have found it enjoyable and relatable. Clarkson’s farming efforts were rewarded with a mere £142 in his first year. He did break the bank with a Lamborghini tractor and his crop yield was hit by unusually severe weather, but it gives a sense of how hard it is making money in farming. </p>
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<p>Our 250-acre upland farm in west Yorkshire is an average size for this part of England. In meadows and rough grazing land, we run around 60 head of suckler beef cattle and about 100 breeding ewes. The farm is run by my 68-year-old father, my younger brother and myself. They do the bulk of the work with the animals and I oversee administrative duties while studying for a PhD in rural entrepreneurship, focusing on the challenges farmers in the beef and sheep sector face and the types of business strategies they are using to respond.</p>
<p>At the farm we have been busy as always, making hay when the sun shines, shearing the sheep, calving and spending considerable amounts of time form-filling and complying with government red tape. We have been incredibly lucky to isolate ourselves in the stunning countryside during the COVID lockdowns. But like many farmers, we’re very worried about how Brexit is affecting our industry.</p>
<h2>Goodbye, European subsidies</h2>
<p>UK farmers are transitioning away from the EU common agricultural policy (CAP) as the UK’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/basic-payment-scheme">basic payment scheme</a> is phased out over the next seven years, affecting thousands of claiming farms. From 2022, some farmers will be able to apply for a pilot scheme for new grants known as <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-land-management-schemes-overview">environmental land management schemes</a> (ELMs), which will then be introduced properly in 2024. It’s not clear how comparable the money will be. </p>
<p>Despite the long phase-out period, the transition is seriously affecting farmers already. Though it varies with farm size, farmers <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1003924/farming-changing.pdf">will receive</a> roughly 10% less from the current scheme in 2021 than the year before, and almost half of basic-scheme payments will be gone by 2024. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415892/original/file-20210812-19-jlm3y8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Landscape of rolling hills covered with woods and fields" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415892/original/file-20210812-19-jlm3y8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415892/original/file-20210812-19-jlm3y8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415892/original/file-20210812-19-jlm3y8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415892/original/file-20210812-19-jlm3y8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415892/original/file-20210812-19-jlm3y8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415892/original/file-20210812-19-jlm3y8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415892/original/file-20210812-19-jlm3y8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Gittins’ upland farm in west Yorkshire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Gittins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is frightening when you realise that EU subsidies can comprise <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/db2a28e2-c175-11e8-95b1-d36dfef1b89a">up to 90%</a> of farmers’ annual business income. Our farm relies on subsidies for around 75% of our income, with the rest coming from selling livestock and property letting. </p>
<p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/944352/fbs-businessincome-statsnotice-16dec20.pdf">Upland farmers in 2020</a> received an average annual income of just £22,800 – nearly £10,000 below what the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1002964/average-full-time-annual-earnings-in-the-uk/#:%7E:text=The%20median%20annual%20earnings%20for,increase%20of%2013.66%20thousand%20pounds.">median earnings</a> in the UK. Some farmers such as those in dairy or poultry can earn three or four times more, but everyone will be worried about the future. </p>
<h2>Environmental schemes</h2>
<p>The ELMs will reward farmers for being environmentally sustainable with their land, through sustainable farming and helping with the recovery of local wildlife and natural landscapes. The English environment secretary, George Eustice, recently <a href="https://www.nfuonline.com/news/nfu-live-2021/nfu-conference-2020-news/nfu20-defra-secretary-george-eustice-talks-flooding-elms-and-food-standards/">told the industry</a>: “Let’s not cling to the railings of the sinking ship that is the CAP”. But what is coming instead? </p>
<p>At our farm, we receive payments under various existing <a href="https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/agri-environment-schemes">agricultural environmental schemes</a> to encourage biodiversity. We are paid to create ponds and nesting areas for wildlife, for example, and for cutting our grass later in the year for haymaking. </p>
<p>If the ELMs are anything like these schemes, it is hard to be optimistic. They have provided us with income for land from which it would otherwise be difficult to profit, but not without problems. For instance, an issue with our satellite mapping dating back ten years led to a deduction of £8,000 from our payment one year, which was already delayed by eight months. As Jeremy Clarkson <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-times-view-on-british-farming-policy-clear-as-mud-njtthpxfg">recently said</a>, the UK government is “unnecessarily bureaucratic” with farmers. </p>
<p>Having seen the stress of such situations first-hand, not to mention the cuts to subsidies and isolation in farming, I don’t find it surprising many farmers suffer from mental health issues. A <a href="https://www.yellowwellies.org/mental-health-the-next-pandemic-tackling-the-biggest-hidden-problem-facing-farmers-today/">recent survey</a> of 450 farmers under the age of 40 found that 88% viewed mental health as the biggest challenge facing farmers – something that is coming up in my research too. Other research <a href="https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/farming/2905042/suicide-toll-on-uk-farming-revealed/">has confirmed</a> high stress and suicide rates. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416057/original/file-20210813-23-t61sla.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Some cattle behind a gate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416057/original/file-20210813-23-t61sla.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416057/original/file-20210813-23-t61sla.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416057/original/file-20210813-23-t61sla.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416057/original/file-20210813-23-t61sla.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416057/original/file-20210813-23-t61sla.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416057/original/file-20210813-23-t61sla.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416057/original/file-20210813-23-t61sla.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A few of the herd on the Gittins’ farm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Gittins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>COVID, in my view, amplified these difficulties. During lockdown, when many people <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesasquith/2020/03/29/people-have-been-flocking-to-rural-areas-during-covid-19-lockdowns/">visited rural areas</a> for their daily permitted walk, farmers grew worried that the disease could spread to their communities. This makes sense when you <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15002703">reflect that</a> the average age of a farmer is 59, and an estimated 90% of farms are owned and occupied by a single person. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0743016716303679">poor broadband</a> on many farms also made lockdown harder. When rural social events like Open Farm Sunday went online, many farmers <a href="https://farmsunday.org/news/lofs-2020-impacts-report">couldn’t take part</a>, which exacerbated their isolation. </p>
<h2>The need for entrants</h2>
<p>Our farm has largely only survived in recent years because the current system favours us. The basic payments scheme has benefited farmers like ourselves who own land, and our farm has fit well with the existing environmental schemes – and hopefully will continue to do so under the ELMs. It also helps that the farm had few liabilities when my father inherited it. </p>
<p>But for many other farming enterprises, the transition to ELMs <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-farmers-protest-business-agriculture-referendum-final-say-a9058621.html">may see</a> them fail. Many farmers are <a href="https://www.farminguk.com/news/farmers-rush-to-diversify-to-survive-following-brexit-report-says_58524.html">trying to prepare</a> by diversifying into everything from tourism to wind energy. Others are turning to careers elsewhere. I’m actually one of them, aiming to move into shaping agricultural policy after completing my doctoral research.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416068/original/file-20210813-23-lidhek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Sheep in a farm" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416068/original/file-20210813-23-lidhek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416068/original/file-20210813-23-lidhek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416068/original/file-20210813-23-lidhek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416068/original/file-20210813-23-lidhek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416068/original/file-20210813-23-lidhek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416068/original/file-20210813-23-lidhek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416068/original/file-20210813-23-lidhek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Relying on sheep and cows may no longer cut it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/q3BCmqUaQ7U">Illiya Vjestica/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The government is going to offer struggling farmers a <a href="https://consult.defra.gov.uk/agricultural-policy/lump-sum-and-delinked-payments-england/">“lump-sum” exit scheme</a>. Some may take it up, but it will depend on how much they are offered. </p>
<p>A decent offer is nothing less than they deserve, and might also free up the land so that new entrants with entrepreneurial ambitions can try their hand. A new generation of younger farmers might be able to make more money through direct selling via a shop and creating brands around their <a href="https://www.hud.ac.uk/news/2020/august/farm-shops-come-to-the-fore-in-lockdown/">farm products</a> – particularly if broadband connectivity were improved so that they could build online businesses. </p>
<p>But given the enormous financial challenges, the <a href="https://www.yellowwellies.org/mental-health-the-next-pandemic-tackling-the-biggest-hidden-problem-facing-farmers-today">mental health difficulties</a> farmers face and other tough issues such as flooding, it’s difficult to know if new entrants will come. All in all, the future of UK farming is more uncertain than I have ever seen it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165843/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Gittins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The basic payments scheme that sustains 90% of farmers will be gone by 2028, but the reductions are biting already.Peter Gittins, PhD Candidate in Agricultural Business Management, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1613612021-07-02T04:21:17Z2021-07-02T04:21:17ZNature is a public good. A plan to save it using private markets doesn’t pass muster<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409422/original/file-20210702-18-1ktg5me.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5218%2C2933&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the health of Australia’s environment continues to <a href="https://theconversation.com/even-after-the-rains-australias-environment-scores-a-3-out-of-10-these-regions-are-struggling-the-most-157590">decline</a>, the federal government is wagering on the ability of private markets to help solve the problem. So is this a wise move? The evidence is not at all encouraging.</p>
<p>This year’s federal budget included <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/ag-farm-food/natural-resources/landcare/sustaining-future-australian-farming">A$32.1 million</a> to promote so-called “biodiversity stewardship”, in which farmers who adopt more sustainable practices can earn money on private markets. The funding will be used to trial new programs to protect existing native vegetation, implement a certification scheme and set up a trading platform.</p>
<p>It all sounds very promising. But sadly, the experience of environmental markets and certification schemes to date suggests farmers may not embrace the opportunities. In fact, preliminary research funded by the government suggests the odds are well and truly stacked against this approach succeeding. </p>
<p>Environmental markets cannot adequately compensate for decades of diminished government funding for long term, reliable measures to promote better land management.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="hands with coins sprouting seedlings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409423/original/file-20210702-27-1nzw8uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Environmental markets are not a replacement for sustained public funding of environmental protection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s the plan all about?</h2>
<p>Agriculture <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/news/media-releases/2017/snapshot-aus-ag-reveals-record-production-2016-17">covers 58%</a> of Australia’s land mass. This means farmers are crucial to maintaining a healthy environment upon which production, communities and the economy depend.</p>
<p>Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the new funding means farmers will be paid to undertake biodiversity projects – “a win-win for farmers and the environment”. In an interview with the ABC, Littleproud <a href="https://minister.awe.gov.au/littleproud/speeches-and-transcripts/abc-country-hour-budget-biodiversity-soils">said</a> “we want the market to come and pay our farmers for this, not the Australian taxpayer”.</p>
<p>The new funding will pay for:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a “carbon + biodiversity” pilot project to develop a market-based mechanism to reward farmers for increasing biodiversity</p></li>
<li><p>an “enhanced remnant vegetation” pilot that will pay farmers to protect remnant native vegetation with high conservation value</p></li>
<li><p>a proposed “Australian Farm Biodiversity Certification Scheme” to identify best-practice ways to sustain and build biodiversity.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>So how do these markets work? Farmers and other land managers undertake environmental projects such as protecting endangered native species, increasing tree cover or reducing competition from invasive pest species. These projects have been assessed and accredited – usually by a government entity or independent third party – to ensure their integrity. </p>
<p>Farmers earn “credits” in exchange for the activity they undertake, which are then sold to “funders” such as corporations that want to improve their environmental credentials, philanthropic organisations and others.</p>
<p>The government has previously committed A$34 million to develop and trial biodiversity stewardship approaches. This included A$4 million to the National Farmers Federation (NFF) to <a href="https://nff.org.au/programs/australian-agricultural-sustainability-framework/">start developing</a> a certification scheme. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-lone-tree-makes-it-easier-for-birds-and-bees-to-navigate-farmland-like-a-stepping-stone-between-habitats-162083">A lone tree makes it easier for birds and bees to navigate farmland, like a stepping stone between habitats</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="cows graze among trees" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409425/original/file-20210702-13-1h1aikc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Biodiversity stewardship schemes reward farmers who change their practices, such as retaining existing native vegetation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Workability’ problems</h2>
<p>In 2020, the NFF engaged the Australian Farm Institute (AFI) to evaluate the literature on existing certification schemes and to gauge landholders’ views. The <a href="https://nff.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Recognising-on-farm-biodiversity-management_AFI_Aug2020.pdf">report</a> identified myriad problems.</p>
<p>The AFI noted several issues surrounding data collection and reporting. Certification schemes are data-hungry: they require baseline data (information collected before a project starts), measurable outcomes and a way to monitor progress and verify results. But diminished public spending means such data are often <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/resources/interim-report/chapter-6-data-information-and-systems">not readily available</a>. </p>
<p>Also, biodiversity conservation can take decades. This can conflict with the interests of farmers, and of project funders that often operate within shorter planning horizons. This may limit the type, credibility and longevity of projects accredited for funding.</p>
<p>And many existing schemes are yet to demonstrate, on a cost-benefit analysis, any appreciable economic advantage to farmers. Under the Queensland Land Restoration Fund scheme, for example, the AFI said “farmers generally want more money than is offered for the carbon credits produced”. If that remains the case, widespread uptake seems unlikely. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="gloved hand takes soil sample with bottles in background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409427/original/file-20210702-27-hya306.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Certification schemes require solid environmental data and ongoing monitoring, which is often lacking in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Barriers to participation</h2>
<p>The time, energy and costs of applying to participate in a biodiversity stewardship scheme can limit participation. For instance, the AFI’s review of stakeholder views noted it took one Queensland farmer 18 months to navigate the application process under the state’s Land Restoration Fund. And the fund involves hefty startup costs, including A$15,000-20,000 for a baseline biodiversity report and A$10,000 for initial certification. </p>
<p>Some schemes have attempted to get around this. For example, the Land Restoration Fund now <a href="https://www.qrida.qld.gov.au/program/carbon-farming-advice-rebate-program">offers to pay</a> the costs of third-party agents employed to prepare applications. But overall administrative costs remain substantial and are likely to remain a deterrent to smaller operators.</p>
<p>Rules governing certification schemes can also penalise early adopters of sustainable farming methods. The schemes often require “additionality”, which means farmers cannot be rewarded for undertaking activity that would have occurred had the scheme not existed. So those already using best-practice methods – such as minimum tillage, organic farming or retaining native vegetation – often cannot take part. This is a particularly sore point for many farmers.</p>
<p>And almost inevitably in environmental stewardship schemes, ongoing funding to farmers is premised on progress against pre-determined benchmarks, such as storing a specified amount of carbon in landscapes by planting trees. Unfortunately, life in the bush is far from pre-determined. Disruptive events – such as drought, fire, falling commodity prices or new trade barriers - are run of the mill. </p>
<p>It’s a big stretch for corporate funders and contract negotiators to accommodate these unknown variables in their benchmarks. This means farmers must insure themselves against natural events (to the extent available) adding again to the costs of participation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/us-scheme-used-by-australian-farmers-reveals-the-dangers-of-trading-soil-carbon-to-tackle-climate-change-161358">US scheme used by Australian farmers reveals the dangers of trading soil carbon to tackle climate change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="gate in rural landscape" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409426/original/file-20210702-15-17myqe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Time, energy and cost burdens can act as a barrier for some farmers to participate in stewardship schemes.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Nature belongs to all of us</h2>
<p>Land managers are the primary stewards of Australia’s unique environment. Yet they receive the <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/research-topics/trade/analysis-of-government-support-agricultural-producers">least government funding</a> of any OECD country aside from New Zealand.</p>
<p>The environment needs immediate and <a href="http://www.dieterhelm.co.uk/natural-capital/">sustained support</a>. Whatever the lure and potential of environmental markets and certification schemes, the evidence strongly suggests private funding should not be relied on to preserve, restore and sustain our natural landscapes.</p>
<p>The environment is a public good, and requires adequate and substantial public funding. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-threatened-species-plan-has-failed-on-several-counts-without-change-more-extinctions-are-assured-163434">Australia’s threatened species plan has failed on several counts. Without change, more extinctions are assured</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philippa England is a member of Agforce Queensland for research purposes. The views expressed in this article are entirely her own and do not reflect an Agforce policy position.</span></em></p>The federal budget included $32 million to promote schemes in which farmers who adopt sustainable practices earn money on private markets. Evidence suggests the approach is plagued with problems.Philippa England, Senior Lecturer, Griffith Law School, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1578392021-04-25T14:09:13Z2021-04-25T14:09:13ZTiny nanotechnologies are poised to have a huge impact on agriculture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396443/original/file-20210422-19-znge1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C0%2C2991%2C1989&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nanotechnology can improve farming efficiency without the need for new infrastructure.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Science is about big ideas that change the world. But sometimes, big impacts come from the tiniest of objects.</p>
<p>Nanotechnology might sound like science fiction, but it represents technologies that have been developed for decades. Nanotechnological approaches have found real-world applications in a wide range of areas, from <a href="https://sustainable-nano.com/2018/11/28/nano-textiles/">composite materials in textiles</a> to <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3389%2Ffmicb.2017.01014">agriculture</a>.</p>
<p>Agriculture is one of the oldest human inventions, but nanotech provides modern innovations that could dramatically improve the efficiency of our food supply and reduce the environmental impact of its production.</p>
<p>Agriculture comes with costs that farmers are only too familiar with: Crops require substantial amounts of water, land and fuel to produce. Fertilizers and pesticides are needed to achieve the necessary high crop yields, but their use comes with environmental side effects, even as many farmers <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-going-green-is-growing-on-u-s-farmers">explore</a> how <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferhicks/2016/12/31/take-a-look-at-how-technology-makes-smart-and-sustainble-farming/?sh=5b0ecfe73deb">new technologies</a> can reduce their impact. </p>
<h2>The tiniest of objects</h2>
<p>Nanotechnology is the science of objects that are a few nanometres — billionths of a metre — across. At this size, objects acquire unique properties. For example, the surface area of a swarm of nanoscale particles is enormous compared to the same mass collected into single large-scale clump. </p>
<p>Varying the size and other properties of nanoscale objects gives us an unprecedented ability to create precision surfaces with highly customized properties.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OLa8DQkKlyU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An overview of the science of nanotechnology.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Employing particles</h2>
<p>Traditionally, applying chemicals involves first mixing the active ingredients in water and then spraying the mixture on crops. But the ingredients <a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pi285">do not mix easily</a>, making this an inefficient process that requires large quantities of water.</p>
<p>To improve efficiency and reduce environmental impact, farmers need their fertilizers and pesticides to reach their crops and be absorbed into the plant exactly where they’re needed — into the roots or the leaves, for example. Ideally, they could use just enough of the chemical to enhance the crop’s yield or protect it from attack or infection, which would prevent excess from being wasted. </p>
<p>Custom-made nanoscale systems can use precision chemistry to achieve high-efficiency delivery of fertilizers or pesticides. These active ingredients can be encapsulated <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41578-020-00269-6">in a fashion similar to what happens in targeted drug delivery</a>. The encapsulation technique can also be used to increase the amount dissolved in water, reducing the need for large amounts. </p>
<h2>Current applications</h2>
<p>Starpharma, a pharmaceutical company, got into this game a few years ago, when it set up a division to apply its nanotechnological innovations to the agriculture sector. The company has since <a href="https://m.canadianinsider.com/agrium-announces-acquisition-of-starpharma-s-agrochemical-polymer-technology-business">sold its agrochemical business</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.psigryph.com">Psigryph</a> is another <a href="https://cou.ca/articles/food-security-project-at-university-of-guelph-going-global/">innovative nanotech company in agriculture</a>. Its technology uses biodegradable nanostructures derived from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2010.03.020">Montmonercy sour cherries extract</a> to deliver bioactive molecules across cell membranes in plants, animals and humans. </p>
<p>My lab has spent years working in nanoscience, and I am proud to see our fundamental understanding of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/cjc-2017-0444">manipulating polymer encapsulation at the nanoscale</a> make its way to applications in agriculture. A former student, Darren Anderson, is the CEO of Vive Crop Protection, <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/vive-crop-protection-places-no-27-on-the-globe-and-mail-s-second-annual-ranking-of-canada-s-top-growing-companies-862806260.html">named one of Canada’s top growing firms</a>: they take chemical and biological pesticides and suspend them in “nanopackets” — which act as incredibly small polymer shuttles — to make them easily reach their target. The ingredients can be controlled and precisely directed when applied on crops.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396663/original/file-20210422-24-8n3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Row of sugar beet plants" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396663/original/file-20210422-24-8n3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396663/original/file-20210422-24-8n3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396663/original/file-20210422-24-8n3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396663/original/file-20210422-24-8n3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396663/original/file-20210422-24-8n3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396663/original/file-20210422-24-8n3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396663/original/file-20210422-24-8n3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nanotechnologies can be used to precisely deliver pesticides — Vive Crop Protection’s nanopackets have been applied to sugar beets, potatoes and corn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Existing infrastructure</h2>
<p>One bonus of these nanotech developments is that they don’t actually require any new equipment whatsoever, which is a tremendous advantage in the financially challenging agricultural industry. Farmers simply mix these products using less water and fuel to make efficiency gains.</p>
<p>Other agricultural uses for nanotech include <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-019-0471-5">animal health products</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-815781-7.22531-6">food packaging materials</a> and <a href="https://www.azonano.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=5647">nanobiosensors for detecting pathogens, toxins and heavy metals in soil</a>. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the widespread use of these new applications in the near future.</p>
<p>As nanotechnologies take flight, this kind of productivity gain will be critical for farmers and a big deal for the rest of us, as the Earth’s population continues to grow and the effects of climate change become increasingly obvious. Farmers will need to do more with less.</p>
<p>Fortunately, a few billionths of a metre is the very definition of less. With the help of tiny nanotech, global agriculture is on the verge of some very big things.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157839/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>M Cynthia Goh was a co-founder of Vive Crop Protection but is not actively involved in the company. She receives funding from NSERC Canada and the Ontario Centre of Innovation.</span></em></p>Nanotechnology, which approaches materials at the scale of atoms and molecules, has numerous applications for food production. Applying nanotech could revolutionize the agricultural sector.M Cynthia Goh, Professor, Chemistry, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1273122019-11-21T06:35:57Z2019-11-21T06:35:57ZGrowing palm oil on former farmland cuts deforestation, CO₂ and biodiversity loss<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302627/original/file-20191120-554-1tnti0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A knobbed hornbill in tropical forest, Sulawesi, Indonesia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/knobbed-hornbill-rhyticeros-cassidix-sulawesi-indonesia-709941331?src=44c420db-5991-4038-8ac3-7f79723329a8-1-2">Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Few natural products are as maligned as <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/palm-oil-354">palm oil</a>, the vegetable oil that’s in everything from chocolate spread to washing up liquid. On the island of Borneo, oil palm plantations have replaced <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-palmoil-deforestation-study-idUKKBN1W41HD">nearly 40%</a> of the native forest cover since 2000. Deforestation releases CO₂ into the atmosphere and deprives rare and endangered species with the complex habitats they need to thrive.</p>
<p><a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/11/eaaw4418">A new study</a> has tried to find out if this valuable crop can be grown without destroying more forests, by converting existing pastureland into new oil palm plantations instead. Could growing more oil palm on land with already scarce wildlife be a solution to the deforestation crisis?</p>
<p>The oil palm tree produces two types of vegetable oil. Palm oil from the fruit is used in cooking and baking and helps feed over three billion people, mostly in Asia. The other oil comes from the palm kernel, or seed, which is used around the world to make most of our detergents, soaps and other cleaning products.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302512/original/file-20191119-111697-3v0z5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302512/original/file-20191119-111697-3v0z5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302512/original/file-20191119-111697-3v0z5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302512/original/file-20191119-111697-3v0z5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302512/original/file-20191119-111697-3v0z5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302512/original/file-20191119-111697-3v0z5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302512/original/file-20191119-111697-3v0z5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Palm oil comes from the tree’s bright red fruit and is one of the most valuable vegetable oils in the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/pC4vFN3P8VQ">Eva Blue/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The relentless increase in global demand for vegetable oil has driven the logging and draining of forests and peatland to grow soybeans in South America and oil palm in Asia. About <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/12/palm-oil-products-borneo-africa-environment-impact/">85% of oil palm</a> is grown in just two countries: Indonesia and Malaysia. But other tropical countries, particularly in South America and West Africa, are establishing their own oil palm plantations. These are vast monocultures that very few species can inhabit, especially compared with the tropical forest they replace.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302503/original/file-20191119-111697-1kcx9wi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302503/original/file-20191119-111697-1kcx9wi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302503/original/file-20191119-111697-1kcx9wi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302503/original/file-20191119-111697-1kcx9wi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302503/original/file-20191119-111697-1kcx9wi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302503/original/file-20191119-111697-1kcx9wi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302503/original/file-20191119-111697-1kcx9wi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A drainage ditch in a recently created oil palm plantation, Sarawak, Borneo. As the peat dries, it can release large quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Denis Murphy</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Use farms not forests</h2>
<p>In the recent study, researchers measured how much carbon – previously locked up in trees and other vegetation – was lost to the atmosphere when either pastureland or rainforest was converted to oil palm plantation. </p>
<p>The good news is that turning pastureland into oil palm plantations reduced how much carbon was released by 99.7%, compared to when rainforest was converted. Another bonus of using pastureland might be that its starting biodiversity is relatively low anyway, so the plantation may actually have a greater diversity of wildlife than the previous ecosystem. </p>
<p>Converting grassland ecosystems like the Llanos in South America to oil palm plantations also released less carbon than converting forests. But in this case, the researchers found there were significant losses for biodiversity. If we have to produce more palm oil, the best outcome for wildlife and the climate would be to make former pastureland the first choice for future plantations.</p>
<p>But would it not be better to ban palm oil altogether? Campaigns have urged consumers to switch to products that <a href="https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/palm-oil/palm-oil-free-list">don’t contain palm oil</a>, while some retailers have announced plans to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43696948">exclude such items from their own-brand products</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/replanting-oil-palm-may-be-driving-a-second-wave-of-biodiversity-loss-116840">Replanting oil palm may be driving a second wave of biodiversity loss</a>
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<p>Oil palm plantations produce 73.5 million tonnes of vegetable oil from a <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/613471/palm-oil-production-volume-worldwide/">total land area of 27 million hectares</a> worldwide. This might seem like a large area, but the second most important vegetable oil crop, soybean, produces 56 million tonnes from 97 million hectares – more than 3.6 times the oil palm area. This means that oil palm actually uses much less land than other crops, which is one reason why it’s so popular with growers. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302505/original/file-20191119-111650-phtkl8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302505/original/file-20191119-111650-phtkl8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302505/original/file-20191119-111650-phtkl8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302505/original/file-20191119-111650-phtkl8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302505/original/file-20191119-111650-phtkl8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302505/original/file-20191119-111650-phtkl8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302505/original/file-20191119-111650-phtkl8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Scientists measure greenhouse gas emissions and sample groundwater in an oil palm plantation in Sarawak, Borneo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Denis Murphy</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>So boycotting palm oil <a href="https://theconversation.com/palm-oil-boycott-could-actually-increase-deforestation-sustainable-products-are-the-solution-106733">could actually increase deforestation</a>, since alternative tropical oil crops <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/giving-up-palm-oil-might-actually-be-bad-environment-180958092/">tend to use much more land</a>. A better approach is to ensure that all the palm oil used in food and other products has been obtained from a “<a href="https://rspo.org/about">sustainable</a>” source, and not from recently logged forests. </p>
<p>That’s why it’s important to base our decisions on sound scientific evidence. Oil palm will continue to be a vital crop for many developing countries in the future. Using former pastureland to grow the crop could ensure the product’s development isn’t at the expense of vulnerable ecosystems. Given how bad <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180531143008.htm">red meat production</a> is for the planet, a switch from cattle pasture to oil palm plantation in the tropics could well be a marked improvement.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1127312">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127312/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Denis J Murphy receives funding from the European Union and Welsh Government for research on traceability and sustainability in oil palm supply chains. He also advises the main Malaysian government research institution, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, on breeding and sustainability issues.</span></em></p>Instead of boycotting palm oil, source it from pastureland and not recently logged forests.Denis J Murphy, Professor of Biotechnology, Head of Genomics & Computational Biology Research, University of South WalesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1099532019-01-16T19:10:13Z2019-01-16T19:10:13ZCotton and rice have an important place in the Murray Darling Basin<p>The widespread deaths of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-darling-river-is-simply-not-supposed-to-dry-out-even-in-drought-109880">fish in the Darling River</a> – with more predicted to come – has raised serious questions about the allocation of water between agriculture and the environment. Water-hungry crops like cotton and rice are also raising eyebrows: are they worth growing in the Murray Darling Basin?</p>
<p>The situation is a little more complicated than it may appear. Cotton and rice need plenty of water, but they might actually be some of the best crops to help cope with a rapidly changing climate. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-darling-river-is-simply-not-supposed-to-dry-out-even-in-drought-109880">The Darling River is simply not supposed to dry out, even in drought</a>
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<h2>Flexible crops are vital</h2>
<p>It’s true cotton and rice are both “<a href="https://cottonaustralia.com.au/cotton-library/fact-sheets/cotton-fact-file-water">thirsty</a>” crops. Cotton requires about 7.8 million litres per hectare to grow, while rice needs roughly 12.6 million litres per hectare.</p>
<p>More importantly however, they are both annual crops. Farmers plant, grow and harvest in the same 12 month period. This means they can look to the year ahead and decide how much to plant given water availability and seasonal rainfall predictions. </p>
<p>Along the Murray and Darling rivers, which are some of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.09.002">most variable in the world</a>, the flexibility to plant more or less in a given year is very valuable. In a drought year with limited water like this one, a rice or cotton farmer may even chose to plant nothing and simply sell their remaining water allocation to another farmer.</p>
<p>During a flood year they can move into full production and grow bumper crops. For an annual crop like this, farmers may only need three good years out of five to have a viable business. </p>
<p>In contrast, perennial crops like orchards or vineyards need a very secure water supply, every year without fail. The trees and vines take years to mature, so a bad drought can be devastating: if they die, a farm could be set back a decade waiting for them to regrow.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-is-oxygen-sucked-out-of-our-waterways-109795">How is oxygen 'sucked out' of our waterways?</a>
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<p>The Murray Darling Basin is an <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13280-014-0495-x">epicentre</a> for the impact of climate change, in terms of water availability. It’s vital we have crops like rice and cotton that can produce in a good year. Then, with relatively minor consequences, <em>not</em> produce in a dry year when it would be better to have the remaining water going to the environment and higher value agricultural crops like citrus, stone fruit and grapes. Our rural communities need to produce a diverse range of agricultural commodities and industries to be more resilient and thrive.</p>
<h2>Do we have the balance right?</h2>
<p>While I think we need the cotton and rice industries, this doesn’t mean that we’re distributing water well. The disastrous <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-causes-algal-blooms-and-how-we-can-stop-them-109646">algal blooms</a> choking the Darling River show clearly taking too much water out of the Murray Darling Basin severely damages freshwater ecosystems during droughts. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-causes-algal-blooms-and-how-we-can-stop-them-109646">Explainer: what causes algal blooms, and how we can stop them</a>
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<p>The sort of tragedy we’re seeing on the Darling River is because too little water has been allocated to the environment. </p>
<p>We need to reallocate water from irrigated agriculture to improve the health of the environment, support people living along the rivers, and other rural industries that depend on healthy rivers, like grazing, recreational fishing and tourism. </p>
<p>This is, I believe, in large part a value judgement. If we, as a society, are going to take water from the rivers, we have to decide how much of the environment to allow to die off in that process. This is how we support irrigated agriculture and associated communities. The fish deaths on the Darling River are a clear sign we have not got that balance right. </p>
<h2>The ‘water stock market’ generally works</h2>
<p>The trade in water allocations – between, for example, rice and cotton growers to a perennial crop producer – is a key <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2013.12.001">drought adaptation measure</a> in the Murray Darling Basin. It will only become more important with climate change, which is predicted to make droughts <a href="https://theconversation.com/recent-australian-droughts-may-be-the-worst-in-800-years-94292">more frequent and intense</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/recent-australian-droughts-may-be-the-worst-in-800-years-94292">Recent Australian droughts may be the worst in 800 years</a>
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<p>In a drought year, we need a grape grower who’s short of water to be able to quickly buy extra water from a farmer who might produce a lower-value crop. This keeps the vineyard alive, able to keep employing the people picking the grapes, and keeping their wine production facility going.</p>
<p>This is critical for rural communities in drought for maintaining employment and small businesses who supply services from nearby towns. Therefore, we need a modest share of annual crop growers like rice and cotton growers in the system to keep our broader communities healthy. </p>
<p>While some irrigators appear to have <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/pumped/8727826">broken the rules</a> and taken water they were not entitled to, this is also a <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-restore-public-trust-in-the-governing-of-the-murray-darling-basin-109797">crisis of management</a>. Our state governments, in particular, have <a href="http://wentworthgroup.org/2018/05/submission-to-sa-royal-commission/2018/">failed to adequately fulfil their duties</a> to the environment and the Australian public as stewards of our rivers. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-restore-public-trust-in-the-governing-of-the-murray-darling-basin-109797">It's time to restore public trust in the governing of the Murray Darling Basin</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109953/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamie Pittock is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and is a scientific adviser to WWF Australia.</span></em></p>Crises in the Darling River have raised questions about cotton and rice farming in the Murray Darling Basin.Jamie Pittock, Professor, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1037732018-10-25T04:32:26Z2018-10-25T04:32:26ZWorking to reclaim and rebuild our food systems from the ground up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241747/original/file-20181022-105764-1o3h1om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Through grassroots movements like La Via Campesina, farmers around the world are working to reassert the rights of local food producers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wdm/9246344183">Global Justice Now/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of the ongoing <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/democracy-futures">Democracy Futures</a> series, a <a href="http://sydneydemocracynetwork.org/democracy-futures/">joint global initiative</a> between the <a href="http://sydneydemocracynetwork.org/">Sydney Democracy Network</a> and The Conversation. The project aims to stimulate fresh thinking about the many challenges facing democracies in the 21st century.</em></p>
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<p>One might be tempted to ask “what’s cooking?” as a slew of leading thinkers on food systems change converge on Australia.</p>
<p>Among those giving workshops, talks and town halls in cities throughout Australia this month are: <a href="https://foodfirst.org/team/eric-holt-gimenez/">Eric Holt-Giménez</a>, executive director of the <a href="https://foodfirst.org/">Food First</a> think-tank in Oakland, California, and author of <a href="https://monthlyreview.org/product/a_foodies_guide_to_capitalism/">A Foodie’s Guide to Capitalism</a>; <a href="https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/persons/michael-jahi-chappell">Jahi Chappell</a>, author of <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520293090/beginning-to-end-hunger">Beginning to End Hunger: Food and the Environment in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and Beyond</a>; Jonathan Latham, author of <a href="https://www.poisonpapers.org/">The Poison Papers</a>; Carey Gillam, author of <a href="https://islandpress.org/book/whitewash">Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science</a>; and food systems researchers <a href="https://foodsystems.lakeheadu.ca/charles-z-levkoe/">Charles Levkoe</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jose_Vivero_Pol">Jose L. Vivero Pol</a>. Devita Davison, co-founder of <a href="https://foodlabdetroit.com/who-we-are">FoodLab Detroit</a>, travelled here in 2017 to share how food entrepreneurs are breathing life back into her post-industrial city. </p>
<p>Brought to our shores by local advocates of food systems change, these thought leaders are sharing their knowledge and experiences of how we might reclaim a food system that has effectively been corporatised, to the great detriment of our health, our planet and our democracy.</p>
<p>Contrary to popular critique, our food system is not broken. As Holt-Giménez explains so eloquently in his book, it works perfectly well for Big Food. Multinational food, beverage, agri-business and retail corporations control global supply chains. But they don’t feed the world.</p>
<p>The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) <a href="http://www.fao.org/zhc/detail-events/en/c/270855/">reports</a> that family farms produce 80% of the world’s food in 2014. It’s mostly produced by women and girls who, ironically, are the most likely to be food-insecure.</p>
<p>Why? Largely due to poverty, made worse by flawed government policies and global mega-corporations that wield the power to destroy local food economies, ruin human health and annihilate biodiversity.</p>
<p>Four companies: <a href="https://qz.com/1297749/the-end-of-the-monsanto-brand-bayer-pharmaceuticals-is-dropping-the-name-monsanto/">Bayer-Monsanto</a>, <a href="https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/working-at-a-multinational_inside-syngenta--behind-the-complicated-image/44421906">ChemChina-Syngenta</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DowDuPont">DowDuPont</a> and <a href="https://www.basf.com/en.html">BASF</a> now <a href="https://www.gmwatch.org/en/component/content/article/10558-the-worlds-top-ten-seed-companies-who-owns-nature">control over 50% of the world’s commercial seeds</a>. These highly profitable businesses are enabled by a regulatory system that effectively <a href="https://afsa.org.au/blog/2018/10/02/the-fight-for-farmers-rights-to-seed/">criminalises the saving, exchange and sale of seeds by local farmers</a>. </p>
<p>In terms of health, nearly one in three people globally suffer from at least one form of malnutrition in the form of wasting, stunting, vitamin deficiency, diabetes or obesity in what has become known as the “<a href="https://www.who.int/nutrition/double-burden-malnutrition/en/">double burden</a>” of malnutrition.</p>
<p>How have we got here? As Holt-Giménez explains, the global capitalist economy that drives our food system has fostered overproduction of cheap, calorific food. In doing so it has transformed the relationship between capital and labour to create social exclusion, poverty and food insecurity.</p>
<p>In pockets of economic irrelevance in every country and city on Earth people are deprived of basic infrastructure and services, particularly if they are perceived to have no value in global flows of wealth and property.</p>
<h2>Hope of a turning point</h2>
<p>Holt-Giménez has hope, however, that we are reaching a critical juncture in capitalism, with the emergence of “food utopias” that prefigure radical, structural change.</p>
<p>At the October 17 event “<a href="https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/sydney-ideas/2018/building-food-utopias-voice-power-and-agency.html">Building Food Utopias: Voice, Power and Agency</a>”, hosted by University of Sydney, he was joined by sustainable food systems advocate <a href="https://evaperroni.com/">Eva Perroni</a> and Joel Orchard, founder of <a href="http://www.futurefeeders.org/">Future Feeders</a>. It’s an organisation dedicated to creating peer-to-peer support networks for young farmers.</p>
<p>Given the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2017-07-07/whos-farming-australia-abs-agricultural-census-2015-16/8686750">average age of the Australian farmer is 56</a>, Orchard’s initiative is a vital step to ensure our future food security, particularly in conditions of high financial risk and land scarcity.</p>
<p>As a scientist working with farmers to improve the quality of milk, Orchard saw those same farmers pouring it down drains in a depressed market. His experience led him to become part of the counter-movement against industrial agriculture. </p>
<p>Now managing his own peri-urban plot in Mullumbimby, Orchard has co-founded the <a href="http://www.csanetworkausnz.org/">Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Network</a> Australia and New Zealand with Victorian grower Sally Ruljancich. It provides a platform for small-scale and agro-ecological farmers who need a strong voice in policymaking.</p>
<p>“Farming has historically been such an individual and isolating pursuit,” Orchard said. “It’s vital that we include the perspectives of farmers both at the policy and consumer education level.</p>
<p>"At the moment, many small-scale and agro-ecological farmers don’t have a say in the policies that make a difference to their working lives.”</p>
<p>The CSA Network joins a number of like-minded organisations including the <a href="https://afsa.org.au/">Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance</a> (AFSA). AFSA <a href="https://afsa.org.au/blog/2018/06/27/vicplanningreforms/">lobbied the Victorian government for planning system reforms</a> that now recognise small-scale pastured pig and poultry farms as low risk. This has effectively unshackled these farmers from their industrial counterparts in planning legislation.</p>
<p>At the <a href="https://afsa.org.au/blog/2018/09/30/food-sovereignty-convergence-in-canberra-14-16-october/">Food Sovereignty Convergence</a> in Canberra this month, AFSA <a href="https://afsa.org.au/blog/2018/10/18/declaration-from-the-2018-food-sovereignty-convergence/">amended its constitution</a> to be an explicitly farmer-led organisation, like its international allies <a href="https://viacampesina.org/en/">La Via Campesina</a> and the <a href="http://www.foodsovereignty.org/">International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty</a>.</p>
<p>“Putting the voice and decision-making power in the hands of small-scale agroecological farmers puts AFSA in alignment with the global food sovereignty movement – we’re here to radically transform the food system from the ground up,” said AFSA president and farmer Tammi Jonas.</p>
<h2>An underground insurgency</h2>
<p>These farmers are part of what Charles Massy, in his remarkable book <a href="https://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/book.aspx/1445/Call%20of%20the%20Reed%20Warbler">Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture, A New Earth</a>, calls an “underground insurgency”. They are regenerating the land and revisioning market exchange. They represent an emergent thinking that manifests itself not only in care for the Earth but in genuine concern for the health of rural and urban eaters.</p>
<p>These networks are essential in the counter-movement against input-intensive, conventional modes of agriculture and the crippling effects of market concentration – including the “Colesworth” duopoly in Australia – that put the price squeeze on farmers.</p>
<p>According to Holt-Giménez, strengthening these social networks and institutions that promote the interests of small-scale, agroecological farmers is essential in our privatised food system. “It’s in policymakers’ best interest to strengthen them so that truly transformative and effective public policy is achieved.”</p>
<p>Information-sharing with international advocates is key to the transformation we need, but solutions also lie closer to home.</p>
<p>Indigenous Australians developed sophisticated ecosystem management. By “getting out of the way of Mother Nature” – or combining ecological literacy with lack of ego, as Massy puts it – First Nations people survived for more than 40,000 years. </p>
<p>Their innovation is now internationally recognised through initiatives like the <a href="http://aboriginalcarbonfund.com.au/">Aboriginal Carbon Fund</a>, which is building a sustainable Aboriginal carbon industry through peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing.</p>
<p>The voices of these local thought leaders must be included in policymaking.</p>
<p>Novel approaches to community engagement are needed to bring us all together on food-related issues. These include communities of practice, food policy councils, social enterprises and <a href="https://foodfirst.org/publication/food-policy-councils-lessons-learned/">solidarity economies</a>.</p>
<p>Many of these fledgling “utopias” are already incubating in rural towns and urban neighbourhoods.</p>
<p>One thing is clear. Separated more by time and capacity than ideological approach, groups and communities working for a better food system are mobilising across Australia. Our food system is ripe for repairing, reclaiming and revisioning.</p>
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<p><em>The author acknowledges and thanks: food activist and researcher <a href="https://evaperroni.com/">Eva Perroni</a>, organiser of Holt-Giménez’s visit to Australia; <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/environment-institute/">Sydney Environment Institute</a>, <a href="https://sydney.edu.au/sydney-policy-lab/">Sydney Policy Lab</a> and <a href="https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/sydney-ideas.html">Sydney Ideas</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103773/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alana Mann is a member of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance and receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) for the Linkage Project FoodLab Sydney. </span></em></p>If the food movement’s goal is to reclaim a corporatised food system by ‘rebuilding the public sphere from the ground up’, what does this look like?Alana Mann, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communications, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1030502018-09-19T22:40:42Z2018-09-19T22:40:42ZThe future of food is ready for harvest<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236803/original/file-20180918-158234-1n2s02e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In this July 2011 photo, an Inuit fisherman pulls in a fish on a sea filled with floating ice.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For more than 20 years, a movement has been building that recognizes the vital role that small-scale farmers, fishers and harvesters, women, traditional knowledge and appropriate technologies will play in transforming our unsustainable and inequitable food system.</p>
<p>While the chemical- and carbon-intensive practices of industrial agriculture play a role in feeding people across the globe, they are a major contributor to the degradation of <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/our-failing-food-system/industrial-agriculture/hidden-costs-of-industrial.html#.W5Vkg34nacI">land, water and ecosystems</a>, <a href="https://www.grain.org/bulletin_board/entries/5196-food-farming-and-climate-change-it-s-bigger-than-everything-else">climate change</a>, <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---migrant/documents/publication/wcms_538710.pdf">labour inequality</a> and the <a href="http://www.ipes-food.org/images/Reports/Health_FullReport.pdf">diminishing health of the Earth and its population</a>. </p>
<p>Agribusiness corporations that increasingly <a href="http://www.etcgroup.org/content/too-big-feed-short-report">control food and seeds</a> are getting bigger and more powerful, while the small-scale farmers that <a href="http://www.etcgroup.org/whowillfeedus">produce 70 per cent of the world’s food</a> are increasingly impoverished. </p>
<p>These were the concerns on the minds of more than 150 people who gathered in Ottawa in late August for the <a href="https://fledgeresearch.ca/agroecologyfieldschool2018/">Canadian Agroecology Field School and Research Summit</a> hosted by the <a href="https://fledgeresearch.ca/">FLEdGE research network</a>, <a href="http://justfood.ca/">Just Food</a>, <a href="https://www.usc-canada.org/">USC Canada</a> and a number of other partners. </p>
<p>Participants included small-scale family farmers, civil society organizations, researchers and Indigenous leaders who came together to share knowledge and experiences, and to map out a direction for healthier, more equitable and sustainable food systems in Canada and beyond.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-developing-countries-should-boost-the-ways-of-small-scale-farming-100097">Why developing countries should boost the ways of small-scale farming</a>
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<p>From the three days of farm visits, demonstrations and discussions, it was clear that listening carefully to researchers and practitioners involved with <a href="https://theconversation.com/break-agricultures-chemical-monopolies-to-free-our-food-16497">agroecology</a> offers promise and possibility for feeding global populations with <a href="https://theconversation.com/feeding-the-world-with-a-mix-of-science-and-tradition-15693">a mix of science</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/feeding-the-world-with-a-mix-of-science-and-tradition-15693">time-tested knowledge</a>. </p>
<h2>Easy, cheap to implement</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.ipes-food.org/images/Reports/UniformityToDiversity_FullReport.pdf">Evidence from around the world</a> shows these opportunities can be implemented fairly easily and at a low cost.</p>
<p>While the term agroecology has no fixed definition, it is best described as a <a href="http://www.foodsovereignty.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/NYELENI-2015-ENGLISH-FINAL-WEB.pdf.">science, practice and movement</a>. As a movement, agroecology is a call to action for a food system driven by the world’s food providers — small-scale farmers, fishers, livestock keepers, Indigenous peoples and other movements like the global peasant movement <a href="https://viacampesina.org/en/tag/agroecology/">La Via Campesina</a>, whose members include 200 million small-scale food producers and harvesters from around the world.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.socla.co/wp-content/uploads/2014/socla-contribution-to-FAO.pdf">As a science</a>, agroecology encompasses knowledge that uses time-tested scientific principles, natural processes and materials to replace synthetic fertilizers and herbicides that destroy our soils, waters, biodiversity and pollinators. </p>
<p>Through farmer-led research and innovation, agroecology aims for resilient, biodiverse ecosystems. As a practice, agroecology has been developed through experience and field observation by farmers, Indigenous peoples and food providers, and spread out around the world. <a href="https://foodfirst.org/the-campesino-a-campesino-movement/">Farmer-to-farmer</a> learning and knowledge sharing are at the heart of agroecology.</p>
<h2>Local seeds</h2>
<p>Over the first two days of the Agroecology Summit on farms in Ottawa and Gatineau, the group observed and discussed many agroecological practices. </p>
<p>They included rotational livestock grazing, farmer-led participatory research and breeding of vegetables, the selection of hardy, locally adapted seed varieties, agroforestry, the practice of adding value to crops through on-farm processing, establishing cooperatives to lease otherwise unaffordable farmland and selling food directly to consumers.</p>
<p>On the third day, a keynote presentation from Peter Rosset, a researcher from the Center of Studies for Rural Change in Oaxaca, Mexico, <a href="https://viacampesina.org/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/05/EN-12.pdf">on the evolution of agroecology through La Via Campasina</a> kicked off two keynote panels. The first focused on Indigenous perspectives on agroecology, and the second on the future of agroecology in Canada. Both included researchers, farmers and Indigenous leaders from across the country.</p>
<p>From the three days of farm tours, demonstrations and discussions, one thing was clear: Agroecology is a growing movement around the world. </p>
<p>Fuelled by a rising public appetite for more ecologically and socially sustainable approaches to food production and the push to do things differently, <a href="https://foodsecurecanada.org/resources-news/webinars-podcasts/webinar-agroecology-integrating-science-practice-and-social-justice">agroecology offers practical solutions</a> for a new generation of farmers who can learn from more experienced growers while connecting to a global social movement. </p>
<h2>Building a different food system</h2>
<p>With the rejection of an outmoded and unfair model of agriculture, the Agroecology Summit highlighted a mission that’s about more than just changing our agricultural methods. It’s also about being part of a global movement that is actively building a food system based on a <a href="https://foodsecurecanada.org/who-we-are/what-food-sovereignty">different set of values</a> — working with nature, valuing food producers and the spiritual nature of food.</p>
<p>The benefits of agroecology are already being appreciated in other places. </p>
<p>For example, those benefits meet most of the United Nation’s <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300">Sustainable Development Goals</a>: Reduced hunger and poverty, enhanced biodiversity, sustainable livelihoods, the empowerment of women and youth and climate resilience. The combination of innovation, scalable practices and system-wide benefits has attracted governments, international organizations and donor agencies alike.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237109/original/file-20180919-158228-13tu5t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237109/original/file-20180919-158228-13tu5t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237109/original/file-20180919-158228-13tu5t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237109/original/file-20180919-158228-13tu5t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237109/original/file-20180919-158228-13tu5t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237109/original/file-20180919-158228-13tu5t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237109/original/file-20180919-158228-13tu5t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A farmer uses a buffalo to plow a rice field in rural Thailand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p><a href="http://www.pan-uk.org/site/wp-content/uploads/Agroecology-Update-French-National-Agroecology-Programme-Sep-16.pdf">France</a>, the champion of climate-friendly agriculture and host to the 2015 Paris Climate Summit, has shown leadership that can inspire other countries. For example, France has a <a href="https://www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/">Minister for Ecological Transition</a>, something sure to be on the agenda as the French take over from the Canadians as the next G7 president. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.agroecologyfund.org/">Agroecology Fund</a>, a U.S.-based philanthropic foundation, provides funding to civil society organizations for agroecology. What’s more, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has become a leading proponent of agroecology. At the <a href="http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/second-international-agroecology-symposium/en/">International Agroecology Symposium</a> in April 2018, FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva called for a transformation in the way we produce and consume food, and towards a new future of agriculture.</p>
<h2>Women’s rights</h2>
<p>Canada’s new <a href="http://international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/priorities-priorites/policy-politique.aspx?lang=eng">Feminist International Assistance Policy</a> has taken a cue from the international agroecology movement that puts women’s rights and smallholder farmers’ rights at the centre of development strategies. </p>
<p>A strategic investment in agroecology is a highly effective way to advance Canada’s objectives of women’s empowerment, environment and climate action, human dignity and economic growth that works for everyone. </p>
<p>The challenge ahead for the Canadian government, and society as a whole, is to actively support this groundswell of research, energy and innovation through funding and policy support, and to move faster towards more equitable and sustainable food futures. The transition to agroecology will make for a harvest that is both bountiful and sweet.</p>
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<p><em>Faris Ahmed, Policy Director at USC Canada and member of the FLEdGE network, is the coauthor of this piece.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103050/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Z. Levkoe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A recent summit in Ottawa on what’s known as agroecology has shown that more equitable and sustainable methods of producing food are not only possible, they’re beginning to spread around the world.Charles Z. Levkoe, Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Food Systems, Lakehead UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.