Event Report (1) : how to decarbonize Japan’s food systems?

The United States return to the Paris Agreement, and the world turned strongly toward decarbonization. The food sector is also not an exception. There is a need to meet demand with growing scale of population, while converting food systems into sustainable ones.

As a follow-up event of the Global Technology Governance Summit (GTGS), Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries held an online symposium "Technologies for Changing Food Systems " with experts from industry, government and academia. The theme of the first session: how can we address the challenges to decarbonize Japan’s food systems?

Opening remarks: Mr. Masaaki Edamoto, Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
GTGS report: Ms. Chizuru Suga, Head of World Economic Forum Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Japan (C4IRJ)
Session I "Challenges to decarbonize Japan’s food systems "
Presenters/Panelists:
Ms. Maiko Kubo, Director of Environment Policy Office, Policy Planning Division, Minister's Secretariat, MAFF
Dr. Toshihiro Hasegawa, Group Leader, Impact Assessment and Adaptation Group, Division of Climate Change Adaptation, Research Institute for Argo-Environmental Sciences, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO)
Ms. Michiko Arai, Appliances Company, Panasonic Corporation
Mr. Keiji Bannai, Director General, Agriculture Department, Yamanashi Prefectural Government
Moderator: Ms. Akiko Nagano, Deputy Director, Environment Policy Office, Policy Planning Division, Minister's Secretariat, MAFF

The outline of the meeting is here (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries website)

Online Symposium: “Technologies for Changing Food Systems” : MAFF

Technology as solution

In holding the symposium, Mr. Masaaki Edamoto, Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, stated that we need to construct the new food systems to reduce the environmental burden on the situation of growing world's population. He also strengthened that the importance of development of Japanese food industry by using Food Tech.

“It is important not only to use Food Tech to reduce the environmental impact and take measures to address labor shortages, but also create new markets by responding to diverse food demand and increasing added value, thereby leading to the future development of the food industry in Japan.”

Ms. Chizuru Suga, Head of C4IRJ, shared some insights on food systems discussed at GTGS sessions.

"Transforming Agriculture"
- The use of data has led to the expansion of agricultural sector communities into data, satellites, and other areas.
- Small farmers have also benefited by financial services which use algorithmic credit determination and digital tools which provide the necessary knowledge for decarbonization.
- Highly accurate information tools have been developed to determine the appropriate harvest times.

“Food System Innovation”
- Technology is useful to optimize production and consumption by appropriately evaluating natural capital.
- Collaboration is important to more accurately grasp and optimize the portion that is wasted in the supply chain.

MeaDRI -- Measures for achievement of Decarbonization and Resilience with Innovation

Ms. Maiko Kubo, Director of Environment Policy Office, MAFF, explaned an outline of Japan’s Strategy for Sustainable Food Systems which is called MeaDRI (MAFF released the final version on May 12, 2021) that realizes both improvement of productivity and sustainability of food and agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries through innovation, and stated its aim.

"The goals of reducing chemical pesticides by 50% in terms of risk, reducing chemical fertilizers by 30%, and expanding the area of organic agriculture to 25% seem difficult. However, it is important for everyone to set 2050 as a target year and share the idea of pursuing productivity and sustainability. Then, we will steadily promote development toward 2040 and support implementation in a policy-based manner."

"We will set ambitious targets as our aspirations by 2050. At the United Nations Food Systems Summit in September this year and other occasions, we will set out internationally as a model for a sustainable food system in the Asia-Monsoon region."

Climate change and food systems

Dr. Hasegawa of NARO introduced that, as one of the key conclusions of IPCC Special Report on Land Use, greenhouse gases originating from food systems account for about one-third of the total. In addition, he pointed out that food systems need to be evaluated under recognition of the complex relationships and trade-offs with the environment, and data collection is important for this purpose.

"Collection of data on environmental impacts requires the efforts of many people. However, in order to utilize data science in the future, it is important to conduct accurate monitoring over the long term."

Transforming agriculture through visualization

From the standpoint of a company supporting agricultural production through its system, Ms. Arai of Panasonic stated that she would like to support farmers in establishing organic farming by visualizing cultivation management through soil visualization services and continually improving the management.

"Visualization of soil conditions enables accurate cultivation in accordance with farmers' goals, suppression of chemical fertilizer and pesticide spraying, and good plant conditions. We believe that circular agriculture is good for the environment and farmers' management, and we want to help them."

Decarbonization with branding agricultural products

Driven by Ms. Greta's words at the 2019 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Mr. Bannai of Yamanashi Pref. Gov. touched on the initiative to reduce carbon dioxide emissions through the 4 per 1000 initiative (*) in Yamanashi prefecture in April 2020 and introduced that the initiative is spreading throughout the country.

※ International efforts to increase the carbon content of the soil surface of the world by 0.4 % per year (=4 per 1000) and substantially eliminate the carbon dioxide generated by human economic activities

"Taking advantage of the characteristics of Yamanashi Prefecture, we are promoting the cultivation of grass and the introduction of biochar with pruned branches in orchard. In February this year, we established the National Council for the Promotion of the 4 per 1000 Initiative. We will share information nationwide and promote our efforts by friendly competition."

"The Yamanashi 4 per 1000 Brand System is to be established in May. This system will encourage environmentally conscious consumers to choose fruits and wine from Yamanashi Prefecture, leading to greater consumption and higher incomes for producers."

Work Together for Sustainable Food System

In the discussion, panelists commented on the following points:
- Reducing installation costs of new technologies is the key to make it easier for farmers to introduce them.
- Facilitating farmers to share outcomes of their agricultural practices and accumulating the data enable them to visualize their effectiveness.
- We need more studies which estimates effectiveness of new technologies with taking into consideration government policies as well as their feasibility and costs.

Finally, Ms. Nagano, a moderator, concluded the session, emphasizing the importance of working on decarbonization among all concerned.

Resonate with UN Food Systems Summit

The session was rich in suggestions. To act first, to expand the circle of efforts while increasing peers with the same ideas, and to design a sustainable system in which environmentally friendly efforts create added value.

This year is the year of the United Nations Food Systems Summit. Discussions take place in various places on the ideal state of food and the path to the future. “Sustainable food consumption” and “environmentally friendly agriculture, forestry and fisheries” are included in themes of the Summit. We look forward to contributing to accelerate the discussions on decarbonization.

Author
Michihiro Higuchi
Fellow, World Economic Forum Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Japan

"Event Report (2) : Foodtech" is here.