The key to “climate smart” agriculture might be through its value chain

In 2023, the United Nations climate conference (COP28) officially recognized the importance of agriculture in influencing and mitigating climate change. In a Policy Forum, Johan Swinnen and colleagues offer an approach to overcome challenges related to improving climate-sensitive farming practices across the globe. They discuss the importance of working with Agricultural Value Chains (AVC) by incentivizing small businesses who play an important role in the support of small- and medium-sized farms. This would involve both upstream enterprises related to seeds, fertilizer, irrigation, and insurance, for example, and downstream enterprises like those related to distribution, storage, and transportation. Most agricultural production occurs within small- to medium-sized farms – a fragmented farm sector – leading to pessimism about the possibility to enact change. But the authors counter this pessimism, citing decades of evidence of AVC companies having employed their tools – such as resource provision, training, and loans – to encourage farmers to be more “climate smart.” Targeting these institutional relationships with farmers can be a positive force for needed policy transformation, say the authors.