PepsiCo and Unilever launch online tool for sustainable agriculture
Carbon-management tool to help asses and report carbon emissions, track carbon reductions and resource efficiency, and promote collaboration on agricultural sustainability
PepsiCo and Unilever with other members of the Cool Farm Institute have launched an online tool to help farmers improve the environmental and economic performance of their businesses.
The carbon-management tool, which can help agricultural orgainsations asses and report their carbon emissions, is free for individual farmers and use by supply chain businesses will require a use or membership fee.
The new web-based calculator has been developed by Best Foot Forward, and the Cool Farm Institute, whose members also include Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Yara and Fertilizers Europe, is inviting other businesses to use the application and collaborate on agricultural sustainability.
As part of Unilever's sustainable agriculture code, the company uses the tool to report its greenhouse gas emissions to help meet metric reporting requirements.
Tesco trialed the tool with a group of its producers in 2013 and was able to suggest improvements prior to the launch of the application this year. Tesco is now collaborating with a larger group of producers to help them use the tool to track carbon reductions and resource efficiency.
This development comes at a time when investments in smart technology, big data and software to target improvements in resource efficiency are rapidly growing. The Climate Corporation, for example, which Monsanto recently bought for around US$930 million, this week unveiled a new service to help farmers increase agricultural productivity and profits through smart technology and Precision Planting’s hardware and software products.
