Carbon emissions and the associated anthropogenic climate change is affecting global agriculture and food systems. Last summer, extreme rainfall and flooding resulted in the destruction of the UK’s cauliflower harvest. Swarms of locusts in East Africa are decimating crops, with their sudden abundance being attributed to shifts in climate change in the region. In California, wildfires are eating away at farms and agricultural land. Food systems are particularly vulnerable to climate change and businesses need to adopt resilient supply chains to future-proof themselves, build resilience for a changing climate and reduce emissions.
It is easy to think of floods, swarms or wildfires as individual, tragic occurrences but these events are inter-linked and part of a complex system which impact food supply chains. Agriculture contributes significantly to the global emissions that in turn bring about these changes. According to the IPCC’s land use report, land use contributes about one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, notably CO2 emissions from deforestation, CH4 emissions from rice and ruminant livestock and N2O emissions from fertiliser use.
Agriculture affects the environment in other ways too, with current practices of monoculture leading to decreased biodiversity, increased disease and pesticide use. The fertilisers and pesticides used to maximise productivity leach into waterways and contribute to eutrophication, further impacting local biodiversity. In addition, intensive farming depletes the topsoil at an unsustainable rate and there are concerns as to the security of future harvests.
How COVID-19 impacted Food Systems
With agriculture and food systems threatened, countries may impose restrictions on exports to ensure their own food security. This was shown recently with concerns around the impact of COVID-19. Kazakhstan and Ukraine imposed restrictions on wheat exports, whilst Cambodia, Vietnam and India restricted rice exports. In the face of accelerated climate change and its impact on food security, it becomes increasingly probable that similar measures will be implemented in the future by other countries. Businesses need to be resilient to disruptive changes in the global food chain by understanding how geo-political issues affect them and ensuring they are able to adapt to any systemic shocks.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN, a third of the food produced for human consumption is wasted globally and it is the aim of Sustainable Development Goal target 12.3 to half per capita global food waste by 2030 by working to reduce food losses along the production and supply chains. As policies are introduced to reduce the amount of waste, such as the 2016 French law banning supermarkets over 400m2 from throwing away food within its sell by date, companies must be proactive and quick to adapt to avoid being penalised.
Furthermore, companies must adapt not just to changing policies and laws, but to the changing customer demands and preferences. As consumers are increasingly aware of the negative impact of certain dietary choices on the environment, they consciously make different buying decisions. Companies must have accountability and understanding at all levels of their supply chain including at the farm level, processing, logistics, distribution and finally packaging and disposal to appease the more conscientious customer.
Climate change and the resultant impacts have the potential to disrupt global and local food supply chains unless proactive measures are taken to adapt to this changing scenario. Only by thinking on a global scale and fully qualifying and quantifying their supply chains will companies be able to ensure farm to fork resilience.