Driving Forces Template

Regenerative business practices influence of agriculture:

Safaa Al-Adwan Team 1.

Description:

By definition, regeneration simply means that something is brought into a renewed existence. A regenerative business acknowledges its place in the entire system where it operates—its community, its industry, its resources— and uses that knowledge of interdependence in their strategic decision-making, it is also about identifying one’s footprint and then moving away from linear systems towards circular ones. It’s about managing natural assets in a way that allows and enables them to restore themselves sustainably. Regenerative business Agriculture is a broad understanding of different practices that contribute to regeneration in agriculture, one of them is developing it, there is no industry standard definition of what exactly mean when companies refer to regenerative business in agriculture, but there is indeed a clearer and supportive definition of what regenerative business mean in agricultural aspect, like PepsiCo, Unilever, Nestle', and Walmart stress that their companies is eager to act now regarding farming (Agriculture) rather than waiting for a consensus to be developed by governmental institutions.The practices these companies use to influence agriculture are as following: 1. Growing more and using less of food production. 2. Creating and active management system for the chemicals. 3. Finding more sustainable agricultural supply chain for water management. 4. Improving the livelihood of supply chain. 5. Focusing on sustainable resourcing.

Enablers:

Businesses are already adopting regenerative agriculture in response to current and anticipated challenges, seeing yield impacts ranging from 68% up to 300%. Companies seeing changes to production as a result of degraded land are beginning to understand the potential impacts of inaction. Businesses such as AB InBev, LEAF Africa, Nespresso, Olam, Touton, and Twiga Foods have already implemented programs in the SSA region in programs reaching over 100,000 farmers. They are seeing success in the form of increased yields, greater output, and a more resilient and sustainable supply chain. With success driven by demonstration of evidence, engagement with communities and holistic integration.Three categories have been identified as broad success factors in these business programs: 1. Demonstrate evidence to scale up uptake: This could be implemented by; Using demonstration plots to build farmer trust, Training programs to support independent implementation, and Showing farmers the value of regenerative practices. 2. Engage with local communities: The above mentioned companies did that by; Tailoring engagement to local context, Fostering equitable gender participation, Building stronger local governance. 3. Consider the broader context: It could be done through; Extend investment across the supply chain, Leverage digital access, and Align public and private finance streams.

Inhibitors:

Understanding the psychological, economic, and cultural motivations behind farmer decision-making is a crucial first step in designing future investment and market strategies that are rooted in reality and reflect the on-the-ground needs of the people who will ultimately carry out this transition (farmers themselves): 1. The cost (or perceived cost) remains a commonly cited obstacle amongst farmers and organisations serving farmers. 2. Behavior and cultural change: farmers enter into, navigate, and, importantly, sustain the required paradigm shift in their approach to managing their properties, farm businesses, and personal lives. 3. Land access: The cost of farmland is high—so high that it is often impossible for new farmers and ranchers to get started in farming without a family connection or renting it from company owners. 4. Trusted Technical Assistance: Farmers and ranchers are extraordinarily busy people, managing complex businesses in a risky, low-margin, and ever-changing business environment. This reality makes taking time to learn about and experiment with new management practices a slow and time-consuming process. Without technical assistance, many farmers do not have the resources, time, or energy to learn about, plan, implement, and monitor climate smart practices on their own, much less do the paperwork associated with applying for and tracking government incentive grants.

Paradigms:

- Extractive agriculture: The significant financial cost of mechanisation and high levels of off-farm inputs has led to mounting debt, along with the consolidation of farm and infrastructure ownership in the hands of fewer and fewer large companies. - Conservative agriculture: Efficiency is paramount in this paradigm. Practices like precision agriculture, integrated pest management, and high-efficiency irrigation enable farms to ‘do more with less.’ More efficient machinery is used to plant and manage more efficient crops. Combining digital field monitoring, fine-tuned fertiliser application, and more targeted biocides allows farmers to reduce their inputs and costs - Net-positive agriculture: This paradigm explicitly aims to build soil, improve water cycle health, and increase biodiversity while producing food for communities and economic wellbeing for farmers.

Experts:

1. Nespresso works with over 37,000 farmers and 300 local wet mills to source coffee from Ethiopia. Since 2013, the business’ coffee sourcing program has been operated locally and is supported by a range of expert partners on agroforestry. At the heart of the program is a commitment to empower farmers with sustainable agricultural practices (Nespresso, 2021). (The business is working with coffee farmers in Ethiopia to improve coffee yields, reduce poverty and increase long term climate resilience). 2. Olam This business sources its cotton from Côte d’Ivoire through its subsidiary, Société d’Exploitation Cotonnière Olam (SECO), which implements best practices across the supply chain. 20% of Olam's cotton is sourced from Côte d’Ivoire (Olam, 2017a), with the subsidiary established in 2008 with the aim of organising supply chain activities efficiently and to create an integrated supply chain. (Cotton yields have increased by 80% in Cote d‘Ivoire through training farmers to implement regenerative agricultural practices). 3. Touton: is applying regenerative agriculture techniques to cocoa production in the Bia-Juabeso region in Ghana. In May 2017, the company announced its commitment to ending deforestation in its supply chain, signing up to the Cocoa and Forests Initiative and embarking on a pilot for the Partnership for Productivity Protection and Resilience in Cocoa Landscapes (3PRCL) project (Touton, 2018). The Bia-Juabeso-based project aims to restore forests while reducing carbon emissions in the cocoa sector. As part of this, Touton has promoted regenerative agriculture practices such as mulching, pruning and shade trees. 4. Twiga: An online food distribution platform is used to increase supply chain efficiency and for sustainable practice. This Nairobi-based business-to-business food distribution company connects farmers to food vendors through an online platform. A mobile-based platform serves around 3,000 outlets a day, through a network of 17,000 farmers and 8,000 vendors (Bright, 2019). As part of its commitment to implement best practices in agriculture, the business encourages the use of regenerative agriculture on its partner farms.

Timing:

- 1980s: Started with Climate change- Costs were $18 billion. - 1990s: Cost got more expensive to spend in Climate change and agriculture. - 2012: There are also significant public health costs associated with climate change. According to one study, climate change caused $10 billion in health-related expenses. - Between 2017 and 2019, natural disasters cost the U.S. an average of $153.5 billion each year. - 2018: economic costs $149 billion - 2019: Cost of public health associated with climate change is on current increase (Limaye, Max, Constible, & Knowlton, 2019). - Greater costs are likely in the future as climate change worsens. Low-income and minority communities suffer this burden most heavily. If society will bear the economic costs of climate change regardless, markets should be arranged so that that money is spent proactively in preventing greater future costs. Otherwise, we will continue to passively pay the ever-increasing costs that come from inaction, which will far eclipse the costs of prevention now.

Web Resources:

- https://growensemble.com/regenerative-business/ - https://sustainablebrands.com/read/defining-the-next-economy/regeneration-and-business-the-challenges-of-implementation - https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2021/04/26/Regenerative-farming-practices-can-help-restore-the-earth-PepsiCo-discusses-its-Positive-Agriculture-Programme - https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/regnererative_agriculture_in_africa_report_2021.pdf - https://forainitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/Barriers-to-Adopt-Regnerative-Agriculture-Interactive.pdf - https://www.conservationfinancenetwork.org/2020/04/15/farmers-on-the-frontlines-of-the-regenerative-agriculture-transition - https://www.foodunfolded.com/article/regenerative-farming-ask-the-expert - https://e2.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Jock-Final-Report-The-Promise-of-Regenerative-Agriculture.pdf