Appeal to the Representatives of Nations and International Institutions Meeting in Marrakech

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Author: Slow Food | Published: November, 2016

The 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held in Marrakech from November 7 to 18, 2016. The first objective of the Marrakech conference will be to start work on the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

In the run-up to this event, which will put the climate at the center of global political debate, attention is focused on the energy, heavy industry and transport sectors, while the relationship between food and climate still has a more marginal role in discussions.

And yet, as Slow Food has already pointed out in the document it produced last year for COP 21, not only does food production represent one of the main causes—and victims—of climate change, it could also become one of the solutions.

The profound connection between agriculture and climate change is also highlighted by this years’s State of Food and Agriculture report from the FAO, which states that the agricultural sector is currently responsible for a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions, deriving primarily from the conversion of forests to agricultural land, as well as from animal and plant production.

According to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, the planet’s average temperature has risen by 0.85°C in the last 100 years. Monthly heat records were broken for a record 15th month in a row between April 2015 and July 2016, and forecasts leave little hope for improvement in the future. According to climate simulation models, without limits on greenhouse gas emissions the average temperature could rise by up to 5°C by the end of the century, but a rise of even 2°C would bring devastating environmental and social consequences. Once unusual phenomena, such as extreme heatwaves, floods, droughts and hurricanes are becoming more commonplace, and biodiversity is being eroded at an unprecedented rate. Meanwhile, the rising temperature of the oceans and their increasing acidification is undermining their capacity to stabilize the climate.

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Paris Climate Agreement Enters Into Force: What Does This Mean For Food And Agriculture?

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Author: Bruce Campbell Ph.D.| Published: November 9, 2016

The Paris Climate Agreement entered into force last week, heralding a major milestone in international action on climate change, and an ambitious target to contain global temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, in this century. Over 100 countries, which account for nearly 70% of global emissions, have ratified the Agreement, and are now obliged to deliver on their commitments and convert their plans into action. But unless countries act decisively and meaningfully, and increase their ambitions over time, this will not be enough to safeguard food and farming.

Future food security in a changing climate
The Paris Agreement is made up of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), which are climate action plans developed by countries, outlining their priorities and measures. The INDCs of countries overwhelmingly put agriculture the top of the list for climate action; over 60% of submitted INDCs included mitigation in agriculture. And of the countries which included adaptation, over 90% included adaptation in agriculture. African countries in particular have expressed a clear desire to tackle these issues: 98% of African countries included adaptation actions in agriculture and 68% included mitigation actions in agriculture.

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Indianapolis’ Urban Farms Help Tackle Urban Problems

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Author: Andrew Amelinckx | Published: November 4, 2016

When you think of urban agriculture many people tend to picture cities like New York or San Francisco. But in Indiana, a state more associated with large farms growing commodity crops like wheat and soybeans, there’s a quiet revolution taking place in Indianapolis. Mission-driven urban farm programs are trying to solve the big city problems of urban renewal, job opportunities for the disenfranchised, and feeding the hungry who live in so-called “food deserts” without access to fresh, wholesome food.

In this city of a little less than a million people, Indianapolis has an outsized problem with food insecurity. In 2014, it topped the real estate company Redfin’s list of worst cities for food access. Over the last few years a number of diverse organizations have banded together to deal with the issue, creating unique partnerships that have resulted in an urban farm that donates all its produce to food banks, a restaurant—complete with micro-farm—where the proceeds go to feeding food-insecure students, and a high-tech hydroponic farm that provides jobs for folks who need a second chance. Modern Farmer spoke with several of the people involved in these projects to see how they are dealing with food insecurity in their city.

Indy Urban Acres

In 2011, Indy Urban Acres was born out of a partnership between the Indianapolis Parks Department, the non-profit Indianapolis Parks Foundation, Indiana University Health, Gleaners Food Bank, and with the support of The Glick Fund, Indianapolis Power & Light and CLIF Bar Family Foundation. According to Tyler Gough, the farm manager for Indy Urban Acres, these groups pulled together “whatever resources they had” to provide organic produce for the 150,000 food-insecure residents of the city. The 35,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables they grow each year on five acres of an eight-acre organic farm (the other three acres are used as educational space) goes to local food pantries.

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Regenerate, Like Boudhira

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Author: Elena Day | Published: November 4, 2016

On October 29, The New York Times published an article titled “Doubts About the Bounty of Genetically Engineered Crops” by Danny Hakim. It compared yields of genetically engineered (GE) corn, rapeseed, and soy in the United States and Canada with yields of these crops (non-GE) in Western Europe. Twenty or so years ago, Europe rejected the “brave new world” of genetically engineered seeds in spite of the promise of higher yields.

According to the article, which used United Nations data, the U.S. and Canada have not reaped an advantage in yields when compared to modernized Western European agricultural producers like France and Germany.

Western Europe led Canada over rapeseed production, before and after Canadian rapeseed became GE. Rapeseed is used to produce canola oil. The cost of a 50,000 seed bag of conventional rapeseed is $85. A 50,000 seed bag of GE is $153.

No difference in corn yields was noted between U.S. and Western Europe. Higher yields for non-GE sugar beets (source of “granulated” as opposed to cane sugar) continue in Western Europe. GE sugar beets have supplanted conventional sugar beets in the U.S. within the last ten years.

A study in 2013 comparing trans–Atlantic yields by Jack Heineman, professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, found that Europe hasn’t been penalized in any way by not making genetic engineering one of its biotechnology choices.

The article also points out that in the U.S. the use of toxins that kill insects and fungi has fallen by one-third, while in France it has fallen by 65 percent. Herbicide use in France has fallen 36 percent while in the U.S. it has risen 21 percent. Monsanto, which is in negotiations to merge with Bayer, has more powerful herbicides coming on line as U.S. and Canadian farm weeds develop resistance to Roundup. By 2025 U.S. corn is projected to have 14 GE traits and it will survive spraying by five different herbicides. Monsanto is already building a factory in Louisiana to manufacture Dicamba, even though GE Dicamba-resistant corn has yet to be approved by the EPA.

Note that the agrochemical giants sell farmers both seeds and herbicide sprays. Expensive “designer” seeds need ever more costly and environmentally questionable herbicide(s). The AgChem companies claim that only by their methods can we hope to feed the projected 10 billion humans who might reside on the planet by 2050.

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Why We Could See Progress on Agriculture at the Marrakesh Climate Talks

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Author: Dana Miller and Jade Lu | Published: November 8, 2016

The interactions between the agricultural sector and climate change have undeniable implications for both global food security and our environment. Despite this global significance, and perhaps due to the complexity of the subject, there has been little progress to date on agriculture in the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process. However, this could be about to change.

The impetus of Paris Climate Agreement and leadership by the Moroccan presidency could unlock the opportunity to advance agricultural issues at the climate talks, known as COP22, taking place this week in Marrakesh. Furthermore, country actions and targets as inscribed in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) both show commitment to the agricultural sector and help highlight key common practices that could form a basis for international collaboration.

While much of COP22 will be focused on laying groundwork for the Paris Agreement, agriculture could be an area of significant progress in Marrakesh, potentially resulting in a COP decision or work program on agriculture.

There is a strong need to address agriculture in COP22

Agriculture at once contributes significantly to climate change and faces some of the greatest risks posed by climate change. Agriculture is estimated to contribute one-third of all emissions. Conversely, climate change is projected to have negative impacts on agriculture, especially in developing countries. With 800 million people currently undernourished worldwide, the majority of whom depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, and a projected population increase of more than 2 billion people by 2050, it is no wonder that “Zero Hunger” is identified as the 2nd Sustainable Development Goal by the UN and that adequate nourishment is interwoven with almost every goal listed.  However, agriculture has yet to be codified within the UNFCCC framework.

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Regenerative—Not ‘Climate-Smart’—Agriculture Needed to Feed the World and Cool the Planet

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 9, 2016

Regeneration International’s Ronnie Cummins Addresses ‘Climate-Smart’ Panel at COP22 Climate Summit

MARRAKECH—“World governments spend $486 billion a year to subsidize an industrial food and farming model that the United Nations estimates, contributes 43-57 percent of total man-made greenhouse gas emissions,” said Ronnie Cummins, international director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA). “It’s time to stop subsidizing agricultural practices that contribute to global warming, and start subsidizing food, farming and land-use practices that restore the soil’s capacity to draw down and re-sequester excess carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the soil.”

Speaking to a panel hosted by the Social Innovation and Global Ethics Forum in conjunction with the COP22 Climate Summit, Cummins told participants that “Climate-Smart Agriculture” (CSA), is a clever term used to describe a limited approach to adapting to climate change and to addressing global food insecurity through agricultural practices that fail to meet the standard of regeneration.

“Scientists tell us that even if we achieve zero emissions tomorrow, the planet would continue to heat up for another thousand years,” Cummins said. “Our best hope to avert a climate disaster, restore public health and revitalize rural economies must include a plan that not only achieves zero emissions, but also draws down the billions of tons of excess carbon already in the atmosphere. That plan exists. It’s call regenerative agriculture, or agroecology.”

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Bank coined the term “Climate Smart Agriculture” at the 2010 Hague Conference on Food Security, Agriculture and Climate Change. The FAO floated the concept as a “triple win” for a type of agriculture that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help crops adapt to changing climate conditions, and increase yields.

Last year, more than 350 national and international civil society groups, including OCA and Regeneration International, a project of OCA, signed a letter urging decision-makers to reject what the groups called the “growing influence and agenda of so-called ‘Climate-Smart Agriculture’ (CSA) and the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA).” The groups criticized the lack of criteria for deciding what can or cannot be called “Climate Smart,” and pointed to the potential for agribusiness corporations that promote synthetic fertilizers, industrial meat production and large-scale industrial agriculture—big contributors to global warming—to co-opt the term.

In the U.S., fossil-fuel-intensive agribusiness corporations like Monsanto, who are members of the North American chapter of GASCA, claim to be practitioners of CSA.

Regeneration International has organized and/or is participating in numerous events at the COP22 Climate Summit in Marrakech, with a focus on regenerative agriculture and land-use as a critical strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and draw down excess carbon from the atmosphere.

Regeneration International, a project of the Organic Consumers Association, is building a global network of farmers, scientists, businesses, activists, educators, journalists, governments and consumers who will promote and put into practice regenerative agriculture and land-use practices that: provide abundant, nutritious food; revive local economies; rebuild soil fertility and biodiversity; and restore climate stability by returning carbon to the soil, through the natural process of photosynthesis. 

Sustainable Agriculture Deserves Center Stage in Marrakech

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Author: José Graziano da Silva | Published: November 8, 2016

Agriculture, including forestry and fisheries, is the sector most threatened by climate change. At the same time, the agricultural sectors produce a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The transformation of the agricultural sectors to address climate change for adaptation and mitigation is essential to tackling hunger and poverty, and offers considerable benefits and opportunities for preserving natural resources.

At the COP21 summit in Paris, countries made unprecedented commitments to adapt to and mitigate climate change. The agreement recognizes “the “fundamental priority of safeguarding food security and ending hunger, and the particular vulnerabilities of food production systems to the adverse impacts of climate change”. This is echoed in country commitments where the agricultural sectors stand out as a priority.

Now, at COP22 in Morocco, we have the opportunity to make significant progress, by making agriculture a major part of the solution.

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COP22 Host Morocco Launches Action Plan to Fight Devastating Climate Change

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Author: Celeste Hicks | Published: November 7, 2016

Last December we had temperatures of 25C. Normally it is 1 or 2C at that time of year,” says Mohammed Ibrahimi, a farmer with one hectare of apple trees in Boumia, a village near Midelt in Morocco.

“These trees need at least 1,200 hours of near-freezing temperatures in the winter to help them to regenerate. This year they flowered very late; the harvest was a month late and I harvested just 20 tonnes when I’d expected 40 tonnes.”

“When we were kids the mountains had snow on them until at least June, sometimes even all year. We had ample underground water sources. We used to have to dig about 4m down to find water – now it can be [many times deeper]. How can we irrigate our crops with that?” says Ibrahimi.

Like most African countries, Morocco – where 40% of the population still works the land – is already feeling the impacts of climate change on its agricultural production. Last year, during the exceptional season Ibrahimi describes – caused in large part by the regular El Niño weather pattern – Morocco went without rain for more than two months. Overall it received 42.7% less rain during its main planting season than in an average year. The impact on the harvest was catastrophic, particularly on the “zone bour” (dry zone) areas where crops such as wheat, barley and maize are planted. Ministry of Agriculture estimates predicted total output falling 70% on the 2015 season.

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Mitigating Climate Change on the Farm

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Author:Ellen Vessels | Published: Fall 2016

Rosie Burroughs is worried about the pines. Each time she drives from her family’s dairy to their pack station in the Minarets, she notices more and more dead trees, the lush green landscape withering into a brown, twiggy boneyard. The Forest Service tells her the pines have been wiped out by a beetle that would normally die off in the cold season, but because the winters have been so mild, the beetle has proliferated, meaning devastation for the trees.

This is disconcerting not only for the forest, but also because the snow melt in the Sierra Nevada Mountains is a major source of California’s water. An ecological imbalance in the Sierras could portend disaster for the entire state.

Burroughs has noticed other changes too, at her family’s farms and at her neighbors’. Warm winters are confusing the plants, which bud and bloom out of season. Farmers who purchase water face skyrocketing prices. Others neighbors have had their water cut off before their crops could ripen.

For the agriculture industry, the effects of climate change have become undeniable, especially in the drought-prone state of California. Farmers, whose livelihoods are utterly dependent upon the cycles of nature, are on the front lines of the battle, taking the first and hardest blows. So while others may anxiously await for yet undiscovered technologies to thwart climate change, organic farmers are already adapting. Better yet, they are creating solutions that we can use immediately.

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Agriculture Takes Center Stage As COP22 Begins in Morocco

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Author: Judith Schwartz | Published: November 7, 2016

COP21, the global climate conference in Paris last year, resulted in an agreement on cutting atmospheric carbon. Now, COP22, which starts today in Marrakech, Morocco, will focus on how the world will adapt to climate change and mitigate its effects, especially in developing countries. The meeting is expected to have a greater focus on agriculture, and specifically on Africa.

In Paris, agricultural solutions—notably soil’s role as a carbon sink—entered global climate discussions. The chief vehicle was the French-led 4-per-1,000 Initiative, a pledge to increase carbon stocks in agricultural soils by 0.4 percent a year, a rate that proponents said would stem the rise of atmospheric carbon. The objective, says the French Ministry of Agriculture, “is to show that agriculture is part of the solution. It aims to increase organic carbon storage in soils, with a goal of improving food security and mitigating and adapting to climate change.”

Four-per-1,000 has more than 170 signatories, including 32 countries. The U.S. has not publicly supported it, instead aligning with the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture, which is more oriented toward industry and includes biotechnology as one approach.

A new initiative, Adaption of African Agriculture (AAA), would place agriculture at the heart of climate talks. At a September meeting, a coalition of 27 African nations adopted the “Marrakesh Declaration,” which calls attention to the continent’s vulnerability to climate irregularities—such as the drought that has left 30 million southern Africans food insecure—and the risks borne by smallholder farmers.

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