Water is the critical resource for food security. Agriculture accounts for 70% of global water withdrawals globally. However, water is a finite resource that is over-allocated, in increasing demand and poorly managed. That is why the agrifood industry has to come up with new ways to do more with less. Here is where the water sector comes in. Watertech has a huge potential to reduce the sectors water use while still maintaining reliable and quality food supply (https://h2oglobalnews.com/issue-4/)
But at the same time our world faces a major challenge in terms of water scarcity. If we continue the current trajectory, demand for freshwater will exceed supply by 40% in 2030. Existing systems are inadequate to meet rising demand. Game-changing solutions are essential to achieve an environmentally sustainable and economically viable water cycle. So the stakes are high, and the consequences are clear. Climate change causes water stress and current inefficient water use advances climate change. So to make real progress on the world’s biggest challenges and the SDG’s, business giants have to make the water transition a top priority in the coming years.
This happend for a few hours at F&A Next 2024. Annelies was moderating (and built the program) the first dedicated session around water at F&A Next 2024. For the last 2 years I have been active in the Wageningen and surprised that the topic of water gets little airtime in a place were so many AgriFood companies are active ( and use 70% of the fresh water available). Happy to see this started to change and many agree water is the next big priority for climate action knowing agrifood corporates have a role to play given their global supply chains and the influence many of these brands have on production systems and consumers (Agfunder). So I was happy F&A Next allocated a timeslot to discuss who to make the water transition a top priority.
Honoured that Truke Smoor from Cargill (#1 corporate being on track on the ‘valuing water’ expectations according to Ceres) and @Jan Burger from Coca-Cola excepted the invitation. Some highlights they provided was to focus on urgency for action and to think beyond standard collaboration ways to best address the issue. Corporates must focus their efforts in understanding the correlation between profits and profitability and that environmental impacts can go hand in hand. Jan addressed that 1/3 of climate impacts in Europe are related to food systems. He also highlighted that making impact on water lies at the beginning of the value chain! 73% of the water footprint is at the Ingredients.
Also very pleased that Menno M. Holterman CEO at Nijhuis Saur Industries found the time to share his insights and recommendations including 1. optimize water usage before embarking on circularity projects 2. collaborate with industry peers and relevant groups to overcome barriers at speed and scale. 3. Make your financial model climate, water and resilient proof!
Hopefully this session was a first step in building a platform where ‘water meets the agrifood’ including showcasing promising solutions to potential investors, financial institutes, corporates and other stakeholders!