Background
Founded in 1865, Cargill is committed to nourishing the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. Through its Aqua Nutrition business, Cargill helps customers to meet the world’s growing demand for sustainably grown fish and seafood with high-quality, tailored feeds.
Cargill, with its expansive operations and central role in the supply chain, is uniquely positioned to generate positive impacts throughout the food system. Cargill works with upstream and downstream partners to push forward efficiencies (on both performance and price), decarbonisation, and new sustainable practices.
In 2021, Cargill Aqua Nutrition launched the SeaFurther™ Sustainability Initiative, aiming to enable its aquaculture farming customers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30% by 2030 against a 2017 baseline.
Partnering Across the Value Chain
In 2021, Cargill Aqua Nutrition launched the SeaFurther™ Sustainability Initiative, aiming to enable its aquaculture farming customers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30% by 2030 against a 2017 baseline.
Since 2021, Cargill has been piloting work with customers in Norway, Scotland, and Chile to implement reduction pathways using three core pillars: Source, Optimize and Care. Source covers aqua feed production, using regenerative agriculture practices, circular economy approaches and other techniques to directly reduce emissions. Optimize includes managing energy use, streamlining logistics and making both operations and nutrition more efficient and targeted. Care focuses on better nutrition to increase fish health and welfare, reducing losses and sickness.
Innovative Farming: Regenerative Agriculture Practices
In the aqua feed footprint, plant-based raw materials, such as soy, wheat, rapeseed and corn, account for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions. Finding routes to decarbonise agriculture is therefore vital to reducing aquaculture emissions. Regenerative agriculture practices can directly reduce emissions, increase soil carbon storage, and improve biodiversity.
Cargill works with crop farmers and agronomists to make agricultural practices more efficient, both for outputs and for the environment. For example, continuous cover crops help prevent soil and nutrient run-off, mulching of crop residues increases soil carbon storage, and precision agriculture techniques permit farmers to distribute fertilizers and nutrients more efficiently.
These techniques enable vastly improved soil and water management, saving resources, reducing emissions, and making the land more resilient. Value chain partnerships benefit both agriculture and aquaculture actors. After 2 years’ work, Cargill delivered a 3.5% reduction in feed footprint per two customers and looks forward to scaling this up.
From Challenges to Growth
In order to drive long-term, durable positive change, the whole aquaculture supply chain – from upstream feed producers to downstream fish farmers – needs to align on the need for and value of more sustainable practices, and commit to this over a long period of time.
There are barriers to increased responsible production, such as lack of awareness, difficulties in quantifying impacts, and the need for wider coordination. Cargill works with its partners to overcome these roadblocks through building farmer interest and engagement, sharing knowledge and best practice to increase credibility and transparency around the benefits of regenerative agriculture practices, and putting systems in place to scale-up.