COOL FARM TOOL Quantifying GHG emissions on smallholder farms CCAFS/FAO Workshop Rome, Italy 27-28 October 2011 Christina Ingersoll – Presenter

Agenda
•What is the Cool Farm Tool?
•Use to date with smallholders and development agencies
•Methodology (mini CFT tour)
•Scenario testing example
•Ambitions and latest
developments

Cool Farm Tool: open source GHG calculator and decision support model
•Farmer focused ‘tier 2’ LCA tool
•Scope:
–Global, applicable to most agricultural products
–Modules for on-farm, primary processing, and transport
•Uses farmer knowledge with robust
empirical data models
•Management focused, decision support tool
•Facilitates exploration of mitigation options

Cool Farming Options – goal to develop a
standardized tool for the food & agriculture sector
18 Sponsors
17 Crops

Field tested in smallholder systems
in sixteen countries
User
Country
Crop
Sangana PPP (Sangana, GIZ and 4C)
Kenya
Coffee
Rainforest Alliance
Indonesia, Kenya, Rwanda, Central America
Coffee, cocoa and tea
UTZ Certified and Solidaridad
Kenya, Ghana, Mexico
Coffee and cocoa
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
Central America, Colombia
Rice, smallholder vegetables, coffee
WWF India/Marks & Spencer
India
Cotton
Catholic Relief Services
Nicaragua
Beans

Cool Farm Tool - Methods
•Location, climate, soil quality, temperature
•Fertilizer production and induced emissions (inc. direct & indirect N2O emissions)
•Pesticide production
•Land-use change
•Land management practices
–(tillage, cover crops, compost)
•Crop residue management

Cool Farm Tool mini-tour

Crop management

Sequestration

Cool Farm Tool – Methods (contd.)
•Livestock enteric, manure, and emissions from feed production*
•Field energy use
–Can be calculated based on typical use of agricultural machinery
•Primary processing
–Including waste water management
•Transportation

Livestock

Field Energy Use

Transport

Cool Farm Tool – underlying data
•Sources include:
–Ecoinvent Centre 2007
–IPCC 2006
–FAO/IFA 2001
–Bouwman 2002
–Audsley 1997
–Ogle et al 2005
–ASABE 2006
–GHG Protocol 2003
–Bhat et al 1994
–Brown et al 2009
–DEFRA 2010
–IFA 2009
–US EPA EGRID
–Hyline Hens

Results
2,569.6 kg CO2e/ha

Scenario testing
Change from leaving residue untreated in heaps or pits to incorporating as mulch 936.2 kg CO2e/ha

Benefits of Cool Farm Tool
1.Farmer oriented
2.Straightforward questions
- pH, SOM, drainage, fertilizer application rate
3.Results show both emissions and sequestration
4.Instant results, instant tests of alternate scenarios
5.A decision support tool for farmers, planners, agronomists, and development agencies
6.Not a “Black Box” – all calculations accessible

CFT and smallholder mitigation
1.Create farm typology along dominant variables (soil type, cropping system, shade cover, etc)
2.Collect representative data for each farm type and key crops within each farm type
3.Calculate baselines for each type
4.Aggregate results from multiple crops with yield allocation
5.Model emissions for each proposed practice change (input use, reforestation, etc)

NEW! Online data collection system
http://bit.ly/CoolFarmTool

Y en Español
http://bit.ly/cft_espanol

Vision for the Future
Opportunity to collaborate in a pre-competitive space
Cool Farming Institute
CFT Format (excel + online)
Improved agro-forestry
Spanish
French
New PAS 2050 compatibility