This document proposes solutions for adapting the food and agriculture sector to climate change through cooperation between producers, industry, and administration. For producers, it suggests using climate analogue tools to help farmers plan crop shifts and adopting crops/varieties resistant to climate impacts. For industry, it recommends reducing energy/waste and shifting to renewable energy and recyclable/compostable packaging. For administration, it calls for monitoring systems to allow adaptive management and incorporating lessons over time. The overall solution aims to make food systems more sustainable and resilient to climate change through cooperation across these sectors.

1. The Solution
Introduction
There are always 2 ways to look at a problem – the optimistic way, which is to attempt to eradicate the
problem and the pragmatic way, which is to adjust and optimize ourselves to the problem. A huge
problem such as “Climate Change”, which stands before us today as a result of decades and centuries of
negligence and unsustainable over-exploitation, is no longer the monster beneath our beds but has
transformed itself into the elephant in the room. What remains to be done at this critical junction of
human history is to draw a best fit line that conforms to the situation best- connects the scattered
points of absolute disarray that years and years of misuse of Mother Earth have left on the face of the
planet as specks of dirt dotting our various rivers and riverfronts and the black blots that cloud our skies
and rains down acid on our monuments and yet provide a line of action that allows us to preserve and
conserve , to show respect and allow respite, to sustain and still retain enough for the future. In view of
this situation, we the 3rd
year students of Jadvpur University, Department of Food Technology and
Biochemical Engineering have come up with a “best-fit line” that will hopefully chart the path of human
civilization towards a more sustainable future.
Our solution focusses on adapting to Climate Change in the Food and Agri-Business Sector which can be
achieved through incorporation of and inter-cooperation between the
 Producers : Mainly comprising the farmers and allied researchers, food scientists, agriculturists
and agro-businessmen
 Industry: Mainly comprising the food and beverage processing companies and the people
involved in the business and research thereof
 Administration: Mainly comprising the policy-makers, the legislators, the judiciary and the
enforcers.
The Producers
 Climate analogues are an approach that can help people visualize what their climate and
environment is likely to look like in the future. The idea of the analogue tool is to connect a
particular location with places that have climates similar (analogous) to what scientists expect
the climate will be like in that location at a given time in future due to climate change. The tool
can be used to help rural communities adapt to their changing climate by enabling farmers to
better envision how their agricultural future might look like. For example, if farmers in a
particular area rely heavily on maize production, and the climate analogue tool shows that this

2. area will soon resemble a range of other locations where maize is not planted because there is
not enough rainfall, farmers may want to start thinking about shifting from maize to other
crops. This tool can contribute to facilitating farmer-to-farmer exchanges of knowledge. These
exchanges could happen through a variety of means, including visits to analogue sites, the use of
films or via cell phone communications.
 Inputs such as varieties/species must be altered to those with more appropriate thermal time
and vernalization (promotion of flowering by exposure of young plants to cold temperatures)
requirements and/or with increased resistance to heat shock and drought, fertilizer rates to
maintain grain or fruit quality consistent with the prevailing climate, quantity and timing of
irrigation for enhanced water management and timing or location of cropping activities for
effective production must be undertaken.
 Wider use of technologies to “harvest” water, conserve soil moisture (e.g., crop residue
retention), and use and transport water more effectively where rainfall decreases. Methods
such as rain water harvesting, construction of bunds and in-field channels, step-farming in hilly
areas and optimal use of water facilitated by modern technologies such as Internet of Things
(IoT) must be popularized. Management of water to prevent water logging, erosion, and
nutrient leaching where rainfall increases should also be undertaken.
 Diversifying income through altering integration with other farming activities such as livestock
breeding will prevent loss of livelihood for the farmers.
 Improving the effectiveness of pest, disease, and weed management practices through wider
use of integrated pest and pathogen management and organic solutions is definitely the way
forward. Alternatively development and use of varieties and species resistant to pests and
diseases ,maintaining or improving quarantine capabilities and monitoring programs etc are
research areas that deserve serious thought and hard work.
 The confluence of mathematical modelling, computer algorithms, geographical agro-climactic
condition-analysis and crop characteristic determination to predict climate risk and using it to
reduce production risk should be seriously considered and implemented.
 Inclusivity of women into the agricultural educational and process-implementation system
should increase. According to a study by FAO State of Food and Agriculture, more than 100
million people could be lifted out of poverty if women had the same access to and control of
resources as men, as of 2010-11. The approach taken by FAO-CCAFS to gender-sensitive
research is intended to support more widespread uptake of climate-smart agricultural practices,
by both women and men, and enhance the likelihood that the benefits of initiatives, projects
and programs are effective and equitable.
 The shift from dependence on mechanized agricultural techniques and agro-climatic conditions
to laboratory-based tissue culture techniques is more needed now than ever. Allied
technologies such as genetic re-engineering, fermentative and enzymatic methods to speed up
production of specific compounds and molecules instead of breeding the entire plant must also
be incorporated into the agricultural framework as soon as possible.
The Industry

3.  A food production unit’s primary source of greenhouse gas emissions is from the use of energy
in its manufacturing facilities and transportation fleet, so implementation of a global energy
management program that promotes conservation, manages energy use and investigates
energy savings opportunities, including alternative fuels must be undertaken. Some of the aims
could be reduced energy use from lighting, modified steam system to save enough natural gas
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a few thousand tons and focused attention on its fleet of
vehicles which could automatically shut down after a few minutes of idle time.
 Waste management should be another focus area. The company should practice the 3 R’s:
reduce, reuse and recycle. Programs must be implemented in- plant to divert tons of waste per
year from landfills to recycling. More than 80 percent of the waste generated in the
manufacturing facilities should be recycled.
 Packaging innovation can allow the company to continually reduce the weight and volume of its
packaging. The company should strive to optimize the use of materials that are recyclable and
each package should contain significant recycled content.
 Instead of ravaging the natural habitats of animals, meat processing units and dairy farms
should work in close collaboration with governmental bodies and agencies with an aim to
systematically reform its business practices by being more humane and friendly to the
environment in which they operate.
 A shift from paper-based packaging material to recyclable low-weight plastics not only saves
thousands of trees but also relieves stress on landfills and promotes recyclability.
 A complete shift to refrigeration technologies that do not use CFCs and hydrofluoric compounds
but instead uses cryo-freezing (using liquid nitrogen) or dry ice is desirable.
 In-plant installations of green sources of electricity including solar/photovoltaic, wind,
geothermal, low-impact hydropower and other forms of renewable power generation to meet
the plant requirements can go a long way in cutting the carbon footprints of many industries.
 Beverage production units should consider undertaking a water replenishment strategy that
returns to nature and communities the water in their beverages through water projects outside
manufacturing plant boundaries as well as the waste-water used to produce the beverages back
to a community after proper treatment. The majority of the water which is sourced to make
beverages is from established municipal systems (the same as a person getting water out of the
tap at their home) or from other sources like rivers, reservoirs, wells, aquifers, etc. – each
governed by local authorities and stringent, internal requirements. The water that does not go
into making beverages but is instead used in the manufacturing should be treated as per
comprehensive global quality standards and then returned to nature and municipalities.
 Food processing units and beverage production units should utilize biogas as an energy source.
Utilization of biogas reduces pressure on landfills and reduces green-house gas emissions and
the carbon footprint of the industry. Meat processing units can use meat scrap waste to make
methane that will replace high-cost natural gas. Process water waste can be treated in large
lagoons covered with giant tents to capture the biogas, when emitted. The methane gas can
then be fed to the plant’s boiler room to generate steam and hot water. The system can displace
a percent of natural gas demand and can reduce the unit’s greenhouse gas emissions by
thousands of tons annually.

4. The Administration
 Development of robust monitoring systems would allow the adaptive systems to be accountable
for changes and should provide a mechanism to integrate monitoring results into management
planning.
 Natural resource programs must be designed to foster programmatic learning within an agency
which must be able to adjust and improve management decisions over time, to fix management
missteps born from limited information and uncertainty, and to promote consideration of such
lessons in future management decisions. Evidence now exists that climate systems are not
acting in a stationary manner, so agencies should adopt measures that subsequent experience
reveals are sufficient or almost perfectly tailored to current conditions.
 The fragmentation and limited coordination of local regulatory authorities (state governments)
over natural resources exacerbates the problem as it makes management of long-term climate-
driven impacts difficult. Given the local variation in how climate change is likely to affect
resources, the substantial tailoring benefits of more local or specialized decision making are
likely to persist. Key to maximizing the diversity and experimentation benefits of decentralized
and overlapping governance is an infrastructure that collects the disparate information about
ambient conditions and management strategies, disseminates it broadly, and encourages
regulators to learn from the data and experiences of other authorities.
 Incentives must be offered to industries and producers who successfully implement schemes , in
accordance with NAPCC requirements and strict policing and harsh punishments must be meted
out to those who fail to do so.
 Pressure must be applied on beverage industries especially to return water back to the society
through effective waste-water treatment plants within the manufacturing area as well as
through community collaborations that allow construction and protection of watersheds and
rain-water harvesting systems.
 Development of a continuous evaluation system of industries as well as producers is necessary
to ensure regular checks on the progress made and facilitation of progress through filing and
submission of monthly progress reports must be made mandatory.
We can go on and on about reactive or pre-emptive measures but at the end of the day none of the
measures suggested can be successful within an efficient and robust system that allows for interlinking
of the three categories mentioned. It is only through an effective collaborative approach between the
multitudes of people involved in successfully producing the barm from the farm, that the future
existence of the farm, the barm and the people involved can be ensured. Effective inter and intra-
governmental co-operation with the industries and the farmers, facilitated by progressive research and
development is the way forward if we want our children to see the world that we see today.