New technology bringing new opportunities

As the impacts of climate change becomes more severe across the globe, and as population growth continues to soar, it is important that farmers can access and embrace the growing number of efficacious technologies so they can produce healthy, resilient, and sustainable crops. Some studies suggest that if farmers were to incorporate a combination of innovations in digital agriculture, there would be a 71% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in row crops within the next 15 years. Embracing new technologies is so important that some studies suggest without adopting new agri-technology, net zero farming policies could fail.

Agriculture is uniquely positioned to be an important tool in the transition to net zero. Whilst often characterised as a significant contributor of GHG emissions and part of the climate change problem, it is also a key part of the solution. Agriculture can be used as a natural carbon sink, drawing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it within plants and soils. Techniques for carbon farming include good agricultural practices that reduce soil disturbance, build soil health, and protect water and nutrient resources to enhance soil’s carbon sequestration potential. They principally involve crop diversification, no-till practices, development of carbon-fixing bacteria, cover crops, organic fertilisers, and improved water efficiency.

At UPL, we’re investing in innovation, including in start-ups. The UPL Radicle Carbon & Soil Challenge is our partnership with Radicle Growth to provide a platform for trailblazing entrepreneurs who share our vision to establish a climate-positive agricultural system through decarbonisation using new and innovative technologies. In 2022, over 150 start-ups applied from across 40 countries, seeking UPL’s investment and support to scale up innovative agricultural technologies with the winners, Pluton Biosciences, receiving a US$1 million investment.

Our Gigaton Carbon Goal commitment to sequester a gigaton of carbon in agricultural soils by 2040, also takes an innovative and technology assisted approach to soil-carbon sequestration. For each country and each crop, our Gigaton Carbon Goal brings together a new ecosystem of technologies, interventions, research institutions, and financial products to incentivise, empower and reward individual farmers for their efforts to capture carbon.

Nonetheless, farmers have faced a number of challenges when adopting new technologies. In particular, smallholder farmers have faced difficulty gaining access to knowledge and credit to make it viable for them to adopt new technologies. At UPL, we work with smallholders farmers across the globe to ensure they have access to knowledge and finance, helping them to properly embrace modern technologies which will help position agriculture as a tool for achieving net zero.