Climate change and food security are mutually reinforcing development challenges defining a world of growing global population. Frank Mars, member of the board of directors and Vice President for Sustainable Solutions at Mars Inc. says we can solve both problems with science, but only if we get the economics and politics right.
“Climate change is an abused term, similar to sustainability,” Mars told IFC Manager Anastasia Gekis in an onstage interview. “What’s happening today is global warming…and we are in uncharted waters. We are in an unprecedented rise.”
The global community prefers the term “climate change” for political reasons, but this technically refers to climate over decades, or even centuries, Mars said. What the world is currently experiencing is much faster and more urgent, with most impact on vulnerable people with little ability to mitigate rising temperatures."
Science is giving us the tools to track and reduce the contributors to rising global temperatures, he said, referring to the sensors and technology to monitor water and fertilizer needs and satellite imaging for policing deforestation or tracking illegal fishing boats.
The crucial question is whether governments will be willing to enforce policies to protect forests or fisheries.
“Just like precision medicine is coming, precision agriculture is coming ,” Mars said. “For smallholders, it is how can we come up with practical solutions that are simple and adaptable by the farmers.”
“Just like precision medicine is coming, precision agriculture is coming.”
Mars Inc., a maker of chocolate candy, beverages and foods for people and for pets, is working on developing crop varieties better suited to warmer temperatures or more variable water. Unlike many cocoa industry observers, Mars said he is confident that more productive cocoa plants can help offset a shrinking landscape of the plant’s preferred climate. For example, simply solutions, such as planting cocoa trees where they can be shaded can double their productive lifetime.
“The knowledge we are gaining of the cocoa genome will allow us to understand how to breed better plants that are going to be productive more resistant to diseases and more adaptable,” Mars said. “We’ve got to get the economics right. The trees are capable of producing twice as much, but we’ve got to get the farmers to what is possible--It’s a solvable issue.”
Soil science is an exciting new area for reducing carbon emissions and at the same time enhancing productivity, he said. Soil sequesters twice the amount of carbon as the atmosphere and healthier soil makes healthier, more disease resistant plants. Proper pricing of groundwater used in growing crops would reduce waste.
“The green revolution was all about artificial everything and using the land as a holding mechanism for the plant,” Mars said. “The only way we are going to feed the planet in the future is by focusing on the soil and by focusing on water.”
Companies like Mars have immense power to force change in their supply chains by shifting from a mindset of “procurement” to “sourcing.” Sourcing encourages a longer outlook horizon as well as more thinking about sustainability. If companies, even competitors, can join forces to promote sustainable supply chains, everyone can benefit, Mars said.
