As we adapt to meet the challenges of climate change and a growing population, there’s a new realization that sustainable sourcing and sustainable procurement in agriculture make a real difference. Agmatix technology is enabling the latest trends in sustainable sourcing and helping to transform the entire value chain.
What is Sustainable Sourcing?
Almost all the food we eat passes through a multi-stage ‘ field to fork’ process to arrive on our tables. growers and agronomists devise crop and harvesting plans and then manage the growth process, irrigating and fertilizing their plants, and controlling pests, before finally harvesting the crops. Harvests are shipped, processed, packaged, and distributed to retailers, sometimes across continents. Each stage leaving its mark on the environment and society.
The agriculture industry faces significant challenges, yet there are opportunities for improvement and positive change. Responsible and skilled use of nitrogen fertilizers can greatly reduce environmental damage while adopting sustainable farming practices can rejuvenate soil health and prevent erosion.
Ethical farming methods have the potential to uplift rural communities, mitigating poverty and displacement. Additionally, by optimizing processing plants and transportation methods, we can significantly reduce carbon footprints. The transition towards sustainable packaging materials in place of plastics also represents a crucial step in enhancing the environmental friendliness of the entire food supply chain.
Sustainable sourcing of agricultural products prioritizes environmental care, and social and economic benefits for all involved. It encompasses environmentally friendly practices, the promotion of biodiversity, fair labor, and positive community impact. Emphasizing sustainability throughout the supply chain, from farm to consumer, fosters a resilient, ethical food system that protects our planet and supports its people.
Examples of Sustainable Sourcing in Agriculture at the Field Level
- A transition to crop types that are best suited to the local environment
- Sustainable fertilizer manufacturing for tailored nutritional solutions
- A new emphasis on regenerative agriculture
- The protection and promotion of biodiversity
- The elimination of desertification and deforestation
- Giving smallholders and family units access to agtech solutions
- The empowerment of agricultural communities, particularly women
These practices, ranging from adopting crops suited to local environments to empowering communities and women, exemplify the depth of sustainable sourcing’s potential impact.
Steps in achieving sustainable sourcing continue up the supply chain. Electric vehicles can reduce pollution and future innovations in green hydrogen as a fuel source may transform the environmental impact of sea freight. The intelligent adoption of new technologies makes EPA SmartWay compliance more cost-effective. As long as food supply chain stakeholders are dependent on fossil fuels, any rises in fuel prices can adversely impact their operations.
The processing and packaging stages of the field-to-fork journey offer amazing opportunities for improving sustainability – as well as for cost-cutting optimization and rationalization. Carbon capture and storage, and the use of locally manufactured starch-enhanced cardboards, hemp products, and bioplastics can slash negative environmental impacts and production costs.
The Importance of Sustainable Sourcing
With over 8 billion people worldwide, the urgency for sustainable sourcing and environmental responsibility in agriculture has never been greater. Climate change, extreme weather, and recent global events like the COVID-19 lockdowns have exposed the vulnerabilities of traditional supply chains, underscoring the need for rapid adaptation.
Sustainable sourcing and sustainable procurement are arguably the only route to global food security, and the social and political stability that comes with an abundance of resources and grassroots investment in communities. The need to protect the environment has been understood for decades, but environmental protection measures have progressed on an ad hoc basis. Sustainable agriculture trends are creating a holistic approach to environmental protection.
What Makes a Resource Sustainable?
There’s no precise or agreed definition as to what makes something sustainably sourced. There’s also a certain amount of confusion about the difference between responsibly sourced and sustainably sourced. Sustainable resources in agriculture cover the entire spectrum of food production and there are few limits as to which resources can be factored into the sustainability equation. Examples of sustainable sourcing in agriculture might include:
- Renewable water sources for irrigation and animal nourishment
- Green energy for electric agricultural vehicles and field-level power
- Sustainable organic fertilizers with calibrated nutrient release
- Crop planting strategies for soil preservation and renewal
- Crop choices that minimize dependence on irrigation and nutrition
Agriculture Industry Leaders & Sustainable Sourcing Strategy
Major food producers are increasingly recognizing the importance of sustainable sourcing and the long-term commercial benefits it offers. Many companies are taking proactive steps, such as preventing and reversing deforestation and using their significant purchasing power to promote regenerative agriculture at the field level. For example, some food manufacturers produce snacks made entirely from sustainably sourced potato and corn oil crops, while also implementing similar sustainability measures throughout their entire value chain.
These corporate initiatives are vital steps in achieving sustainable sourcing. They can also potentially help to build brand loyalty. A recent McKinsey report suggests that consumers care strongly about sustainability and ESG initiatives. A company’s ESG performance can influence consumer choice. It can also improve a company’s chances of obtaining new contracts, strategic partnerships, and even government approval and assistance in the search for new markets. According to McKinsey:
“Products making ESG-related claims averaged 28 percent cumulative growth over the past five-year period, versus 20 percent for products that made no such claims.”
Sustainable Sourcing in Today’s Ag Industry
There’s no doubt that there is an urgent need for a comprehensive transition to sustainable sourcing across the agricultural and food production industries. It’s also clear that correctly implemented strategic sustainability initiatives make financial sense and meet with consumer approval. There is also increased government backing for sustainability in all industries, but many companies still face challenges when they seek to create new strategies to adopt trends in sustainable sourcing.
The challenges can include the costs of transitioning to new technologies, disseminating knowledge and training down to the field level, or persuading stakeholders to take calculated risks when there is no immediately compelling financial requirement to do so.
Agtech companies are innovating to bridge the gaps by delivering new software and products that harness the latest advances in Big Data and cloud technologies, AI, and the Internet of Things.
Sustainable Sourcing through Big Data
One of the most exciting Agtech innovations is the ability to leverage Big Data for sustainable sourcing across agri-food supply chains. The most relevant applications are in product tracing and sustainability. Access to Big Data can also transform research and decision-making processes around soil properties, water, crop and plant management, animal management, and waste management.
How does Big Data Work in Sustainable Agriculture?
Big data is increasingly recognized in sustainable sourcing and agriculture for its transformative potential. It simplifies the processing and analysis of large data sets collected from various points along the food chain, including field sensors and consumer tracking in retail.
This technology enables the aggregation and analysis of data by powerful computers using advanced algorithms, helping to address the challenges posed by diverse and continuous data streams in multiple formats.
The application of big data begins with agricultural input companies using platforms like Agmatix for their product trials. This leads to the introduction of new, environmentally friendly biological products to the market, offering growers sustainable ways to maintain crop health and yield. This step is crucial in demonstrating how Big Data directly supports the development of sustainable agricultural practices.
From there, stakeholders can access the specific data they need, presented in a consistent format. The insights gained from real-time data analysis can significantly improve decision-making across the supply chain. In the retail sector, these insights allow companies to better tailor their products to meet consumer needs, streamline their distribution, and reduce waste.
Big data also facilitates the use of predictive models in decision-making processes, making it easier to address challenges like extreme weather conditions and other supply chain disruptions. This enhances the overall resilience and efficiency of sustainable sourcing practices.
From Seed to Harvest: Agmatix Helps Companies Meet Sustainability Goals
Agmatix technologies are a key tool for companies that want to implement ambitious sustainability goals. Our platform enhances sustainable sourcing and helps users to rationalize and optimize operations. The use of data-driven decision-making can reduce field trials and other research times and transform R&D innovations into more sustainable options for crop plans and planting strategies, particularly where there is a requirement to introduce new crops as a response to climate change or new market realities.
Companies and organizations that invest in Agmatix tools can streamline many of their processes and procedures and bring a new level of efficiency and profitability to their operations. There are additional benefits in the form of reputation enhancement and consumer approval, as well as the potential to mount more operations within an existing budget.
Agmatix: Leading the Way with Data-Informed Decision-Making
Agriculture and farming is a challenging industry that, arguably more than most others, depends on taking calculated risks in order to thrive and prosper. Aside from the normal vicissitudes of consumer supply and demand, and fluctuating fuel, energy, fertilizer, and water costs, growers are at the mercy of the weather, crop disease and blights, and predation by pests.
Choosing ideal crops for the local micro-environment, nurturing them to achieve optimal health and yields, and then successfully harvesting them used to involve as much guesswork and luck as expert knowledge and access to data. The consequences of failure (and environmentally unsound) practices in agriculture can range from individual bankruptcy and the displacement of family units from the land to soil erosion and desertification, regional economic downturns, rising food prices, and shortages – or even famine.
Just as growers harvest crops, Agmatix harvests data and offers data-driven decision-making to support sustainable sourcing. Agronomists and agricultural professionals (all the way down to field level) can create customized and tailored solutions that offer an unprecedented level of risk management and enable a degree of agricultural adaptation and innovation that would have been unimaginable in the 20th century. Growers can also reduce their carbon footprint, reduce waste and the consumption of essential resources.
Sustainable Sourcing is an Achievable Goal
Sustainable sourcing is increasingly important across the broad spectrum of the agricultural industries and in the related food and beverage industries. As consumer awareness grows, sustainable sourcing requirements in agriculture and food production will likely become the norm. Companies that understand what makes a particular resource sustainable, and implement proactive sustainability policies may achieve a strategic advantage over competitors.
Agmatix tools allow corporations to work with growers and accelerate the process of sustainable sourcing. When Big Data becomes readily accessible and is applied to the decision-making processes, sustainability KPIs can be precisely defined and progress towards them monitored. The entire farming process, from seed to harvest, can become entirely sustainable, optimizing profits and meeting consumer, investor, partner, and regulatory expectations. Contact us to learn more!
