Reports on the increase of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere and its impact on our climate are plentiful. We, professionals in the food supply chains and agriculture, have major tools in our hands to make an impact. There are two directions: supporting the storage of carbon in the soil or reducing the carbon footprint of the food we are producing. In this blog, we focus on the reduction of the carbon footprint of the food we are producing. Simply by showing what we do and providing insights into the possible interventions and their impact on retailers and foodservice companies.
Society’s focus on meat, eggs & salmon for carbon reduction
Carbon footprint reduction is hot and the civil society looks first to the producers of meat, eggs & salmon. There is a need to come up with carbon reduction plans while maintaining the quality of the products. With retailers and finance providers in the driving seat, producers of the products are pushed to show the present status of their produce. Preferably they should include reduction plans. Retailers can provide access to better-valued markets and financiers provide better access to capital. This is interesting. First pilots with manual calculations took place, but all concluded that this was a lot of work and susceptible to mistakes. So could we do this smarter?
Combining data & gouvernance
The carbon footprint consists of: (1) related to own production activities (scope 1 and 2) and related to the purchased goods (related to the supply chain, scope 3) of processors and packers. Especially calculating the scope 3 carbon footprint is complex. It requires the data of the applied feeding programs and the farm production data, for all farms. For poultry-, egg, pork & salmon integrations, this is doable. But for processors & packers without their farms, strict data governance is required to get the required commitment. Having this in place, monitoring the carbon footprint is getting fairly easy.
Science-based calculations & data
The impact on meat, eggs, and salmon that can be provided in these value chains is huge. Understanding the possible interventions, their impact, and costs and making the right choices will optimize the supply chains and reduce the overall carbon footprint. Underpinning these interventions with the right data and science-based calculations is paving the way for interesting valued markets and providing access to capital.
Do you want to know more about reducing the carbon footprint of your operations and automating carbon footprinting? You can read our previous blog or contact us at the trade fair VIV Europe 31-5 until 2-6-2022 in hall 9, stand D0008.
