'Climate Smart Ag' Newsletter #8
The newsletter to keep you updated about the mains news, initiatives around sustainable and low carbon crop production in France, Europe and outside of Europe.
Each week, about 1000 articles are screened in order to select and synthetize for you the most relevant one related to sustainable and low carbon crop production. Transverse articles are also publised on a monthly basis on these themes. Feel free to leave a comment if you would ear more from some specific topics.
Summary of this week:
Podcast: Saipol updates the GHG calculator for sustainable crop production I Saipol
Implementation of A "Low-Carbon Label" In France I mondaq.com
"Carbon will become one of the largest commodities in the world"I SouthPole
FarmTogether Partners with Carbon by Indigo to Drive On-Farm Climate Action I FarmTogether
Corteva Announces Expansion of Corteva Carbon Initiative for 2022 Crop Year I Corteva US
CME Group starts up nature-based offsets to meet growing demand | Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc.
France
Podcast: Saipol updates the GHG calculator for sustainable crop production I Saipol
With this podcast we learn about the Saipol, the european leader in oilseed processing and there marketplace Oleoze, which enables them to source low carbon oilseed rape and sunflower grain directly to farmer or through distributor. The low carbon profil of the grain is defined accordingly to the IPCC guidelines for vegetable oil production and the EU Commission has defined target for this market. The company has taken advantage of this early market they have developed, the EU guidelines and a growing demand from road transporters for low-carbon energy sources. The status of low carbon of the grain is made through a Green House Gaz calculation that take into account carbon storage and farm/fields level emission.
Saipol sell the low carbon vegetable oil road transporters who are more and more concerned about reducing the carbon footprint of their fleet with a premium, which enables them to pay a premium to the farmers they buy the low carbon grain to.
This is an interesting example of a sustainable crop program that is embed with the grain suppy chain, something that should get more attention and see more development with a necessity for downstream companies to reduce their carbon footprint by reducing their scope 3 emission, instead of offsetting it this in the context of a rising carbon price.
A plan to boost the French AgriTech
The French government is going to invest 200 Millions euros in its AgTech-FoodTech start-up. The French Minister of Agriculture indicated that he wan’t to bet on those start-ups "to make France the world cradle of agritech".
Implementation of A "Low-Carbon Label" In France I mondaq.com
The method has been recently been aproved by the French Ministry of Agriculture which will recognize scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3 direct-indirect emissions. It is a voluntary label recognised by an independant organism which is certified for others certification scheme such as Kyoto quotas or the European Union Emissions Trading System ("EU ETS"). The label aim to certify voluntary project that go behond the standard which imply that emissions reductions that are accounted for the EU ETS cannot count for this label. In addition reduction certified by this label cannot be traded on a market.
Europe
Boortmalt, BASF Agricultural Solutions and SAI Platform collaborate for sustainable barley production I GrainCentral
"Our customers in the beverage value chain are demanding more proof that we supply malted barley that is produced sustainably, that is why we want to measure and drive sustainability in crop production. One of our sustainability goals is to source 95% sustainable barley in Europe by 2030. "
Interesting to put this in the context of a premiumisation of the malting market highlight in this article.
Outside of Europe - Global
"Carbon will become one of the largest commodities in the world"I SouthPole
"As companies commit to offsetting their emissions, they are essentially creating an internal price on carbon. As that price gets higher, they will choose instead to invest in technologies and solutions that allow them to reduce more emissions within their own value chains to begin with. At the same time, and this is something that we can already see, the investments that companies make in carbon credits provide crucial financing for projects that wouldn't have been undertaken otherwise. As the price of carbon goes up, we're seeing more and more types of projects becoming viable, including those that develop and take advantage of really transformative technology."
FarmTogether Partners with Carbon by Indigo to Drive On-Farm Climate Action I FarmTogether
FarmTogether, a farmland investment platform driving income and impact, today announced that it will enroll eligible farms in the Carbon by Indigo program, the first scalable, registry-approved carbon farming program for agriculture.
Through the Carbon by Indigo program, Indigo Ag will connect FarmTogether properties that prioritize carbon sequestration and abatement with carbon buyers looking to incorporate high-quality offsets as part of their long-term decarbonization strategies. The partnership will provide FarmTogether farmers and investors with end-to-end credit generation support – from on-farm implementation to facilitating third-party verification and issuance – unlocking access to a new income stream while reinforcing both companies’ strong commitment to leverage land as a meaningful climate solution.
Corteva Announces Expansion of Corteva Carbon Initiative for 2022 Crop Year I Corteva US
The partnership aim to enable farmer that use" Corteva’s free and easy-to-use digital tool, Granular® Insights™, to securely log those practices, seamlessly measure their impact, and generate premium credits with Carbon by Indigo."
Expanded farmer benefits for 2022 now include:
● Aligned Incentives: Farmers will receive 75% of the credit value so as future prices rise, they capture the majority of the upside.
● Premium Prices: Highest quality credits built on Indigo’s scientific rigor maximize the value of this opportunity. Based on market projections farmers could earn as much as $30 or more per credit, with the added security of a guaranteed minimum payment of $15/credit.
● More Practices and More Crops: Increased nitrogen use efficiency is an eligible practice change, in addition to introducing cover crops and reducing tillage. The Initiative also now supports 17 of the most common crop types across the U.S.
● Longer Lookback: Farmers will get paid on eligible practice changes that were conducted post harvest of 2020.
CME Group starts up nature-based offsets to meet growing demand | Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc.
CME Group is launching a new futures contract Aug. 1 that will be tied to the value of nature-based carbon credits, including those generated from agriculture.
The new N-GEO futures are designed “to help create a more transparent and efficient voluntary emissions offset market,” CME Group said in a news release. “it will reflect the increased demand, which will lead to increased pricing/valuation.”