New app to help farmers cut CO2

Heineken, Marks & Spencer, PepsiCo, Tesco and Unilever are among a group of global agri-food businesses promoting a new carbon management app for farmers

The “cool farm tool” helps to assess and improve the environmental and economic performance of farms.

Developed by the Cool Farm Institute, the online calculator enables farmers of all types worldwide to understand the carbon footprint of their production systems and adapt their management to improve performance.

It has been successfully trialled by a range of farmers, from small cotton and coffee bean growers in India and Kenya to egg and potato producers in the US and the UK.

The app was launched at the 2014 Farming Futures conference by Carmel McQuaid, head of sustainable business at Marks & Spencer. She said: “I’m hopeful the app will transform the business of reducing farm emissions from being a burden on farmers and become a valuable decision support tool.”

The app is based on an Excel model created by the University of Aberdeen in partnership with Unilever and the Sustainable Food Lab. It can be accessed at coolfarmtool.org.