Cargill's sustainable aquaculture program to reduce the carbon footprint of our customers’ farmed seafood by 30% by 2030.
As a global leader in aquaculture feed and animal nutrition,
we support the production of seafood the world needs while minimizing its impact on the planet. And now we are stepping up to make the future of aquaculture more sustainable: with
a focus on farmers and working across the value chain, we
are helping the seafood industry reduce its carbon footprint.
Learn more about SeaFurther™ sustainable aquaculture:
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Our goal
To help seafood farmers chart a path to net-zero emissions with a program to reduce their carbon footprint by at least 30% by 2030.
Our Priorities
We have set sustainability priorities that account for the diverse environmental, social and economic impacts of our business. Still, we realize that no company can solve these challenges
on its own. Through collaboration towards a common goal – with our suppliers producing the raw materials we use, our farming customers growing the seafood we eat, and the local and global communities we are a part of – we believe our food system will become more resilient.
Key areas
To ensure we focus our efforts on the areas where we can have the most impact, everything we do is considered through the lens of the following three key areas. This enables us to create the best solutions for individual customers according to their unique requirements.
Source
Optimize
Care
Demand for seafood is rising. Emerging research, such as the Blue Food Assessment of 2021, highlights how important aquaculture is for human nutrition – but aquaculture production must grow sustainably. It’s essential we meet the challenge of sustainable aquaculture – by producing seafood in ways that protect our planet while feeding a growing human population.
When feed is used in aquaculture, it is often responsible for 80% - even as much as 90% - of the total carbon footprint
of the harvested fish. The raw materials that make up the feed carry most of that burden and the efficiency of feed use on the farm is an important factor. With this knowledge, we can target our efforts.
How will we get there?
It is one thing report on carbon footprint – but another thing
to design and implement reduction strategies across a value chain. At Cargill, we are leveraging our supply chain expertise to meet that challenge. Credibility and innovation are key and underpin everything we do. To keep us on track, we have set
a target of a 15 percent reduction in GHG emissions by 2026. We are focusing on the three key areas described below to achieve this ambitious target.
%
Targeting improvements in every step of the value chain
Our community
Pablo Baraona
Director of Salmones Aysen
Neil Manchester
Managing Director, Kames Fish Farming Ltd.
Pilar Cruz
Chief Sustainability Officer
Helene Ziv-Douki
President of Cargill's aqua nutrition business
With Sea Further Sustainability, we are charting a new bold course to make aquaculture better for our planet. We're working with salmon farmers to help them raise more sustainable seafood with less enviromental impact. Together we will keep our oceans and ecosystems healthy for generations to come.
SeaFurther™ Sustainability in news
Cargill: Sustainability challenges in aquaculture are complex but can be tackled
reduction of seafood
carbon footprint
The challenge
Our solution
Together with our value chain partners, we are charting a bold new course – making aquaculture better for our planet and facilitate access to sustainable seafood.
Introducing SeaFurther™ Sustainability – our exciting new worldwide program, designed to
deliver real change across our seas.
Learn more
Learn more
Learn more
Transforming raw materials
Feed ingredients are a key part of the overall footprint of aquaculture. Changing raw materials from one source to another with a lower footprint can provide an immediate solution. But Cargill believes it is best to work with our suppliers to find ways for them to reduce their emissions – dealing directly with the issue. We are collaborating on solutions to reduce
the emissions from the production of crops by implementing regenerative agriculture practices, optimizing processing and streamlining logistics.
To achieve a sustainable aquaculture industry, we are helping commercialize novel ingredients and continuing to increase our use of by-products, driving a circular economy approach for feed in aquaculture. This will build on our leading experience of utilizing fish trimmings and other by-products where we can, to help move towards the goal of overall carbon emissions reduction.
A few examples of how our approach to sourcing
is reducing the carbon footprint of seafood:
Innovafeed and Cargill extend their partnership to bring healthy novel ingredients to aquafarmers | Cargill
Source
Optimizing production
Optimize
Optimizing production involves managing energy use in feed production and farming, streamlining transportation and logistics, and tailoring our feeds to the fish and environments they’re destined for.
Energy use and logistics are key areas where we have most direct control. We play our part in our own operations, but the collaborative nature of SeaFurther allows us to work with our suppliers and our customers to share learnings and leverage each other’s footprint-reducing progress. We focus on
energy efficiency, renewable energy, and carefully planning inbound and outbound transportation of materials, people, and feed.
We can also optimize the nutrition provided to our customers, reducing the amount of feed needed for
the farmed fish – the feed conversion ratio. Reducing
the feed conversion ratio (FCR) is a strong driver of sustainable aquaculture for many reasons – but key among them is the use of fewer resources resulting
in fewer emissions. Through formulation, we can also blend our ingredients differently to deliver the same
great nutrition, but with a lower total footprint.
A few examples of how we have been optimizing
our aquafeed production:
Transitioning to renewable electricity in Coronel, Chile
Fully electrifying with hydro-power in Bergneset, Norway
Safeguarding animal health
Care
Providing optimal nutrition for the fish we feed will keep them healthier. With a focus on health and welfare through nutrition, the fish are less likely to get sick. Healthy fish grow more efficiently, so more fish can be grown using fewer resources – with fewer GHG emissions.
Reducing the feed conversion ratio (FCR) through reducing losses and sick fish has an immediate impact to reduce the seafood footprint.
An example of how we are safeguarding
animal health:
EWOS DERMIC launched | Cargill Norway
Collaboration is at the heart of SeaFurther, and the carbon footprint of farmed salmon explains why. Optimizing each link in the value chain will only take us so far. Exploring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction initiatives – together – will enable us to meet the rising demand for seafood sustainably.
Raw Material Mix
GHG Emissions
Marine Proteins
9%
Vegetable meals
48%
Marine Oils
4%
Vegetable Oils
32%
Carbohydrates
& Binders
2%
Micro Ingredients
5%
Feed Production
2%
Raw materials to feed mill
Source
Raw material production and transport to mill are key.
Factory energy
Feed to farm
The raw material mix has a large footprint, but choice of nutrient source is also decisive for the footprint of other processes. The overall feed efficiency on farm magnifies the feed footprint further, with other farm activities and energy use making up the total inputs.
optimize
Optimisation through the value chain on energy and feed use reduces carbon emissions.
Care
Prioritising health and welfare reduces losses and emissions.
Nutrition
Health, welfare and mortalities impact
On-farm inputs
GHG emisssions of farmed seafood at harvest
Hover over icons to see data
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65%
1%
1%
7%
10%
The path to net-zero emissions starts with understanding the goals of our costomers and analyzing their current situation; then based on the data that we collect on their farms, Cargill is able to precisely identify hotspots in the value chain where it will be possible to intervene to reduce emissions.
We recognize our role as providing a solution to the ocean's recovery whilst feeding the increasing population and understand the responsibility that farming in the sea entails. We are proud to lead the way for reducing emissions from the trout industry through this partnership with Cargill. However, carbon efficiency resulting in reduced emissions will only be fully achievied if we work together across the whole supply chain, so it's fantastic that this initiative and open communication is happening rapidly and at scale.
Salmones Aysen is a family-owned and operated company that have been in the path of becoming carbon neutral company with carbon neutral produce for a few years now. Adopting different politics on how to farm and process our salmon, we are changing its culture and growing into this new way of farming to achieve, not only a zero emission but a sustainable and fair way of producing salmons. Our commitment comes from the very heart of the company, because is a conviction that the owners of the company have themselves, not only in the company, but in life. Therefore, we have decided to commit with the Sea Further program along with Cargill to move forward with this objective that we are convinced we are going to achieve in this comming years.
Cargill's Research & Development experts take time and care to develop fish nutrition that enhances the health of farmed fish. We are committed to working with our customers to make sure the fish in their care are managed to the highest standards.
Read sustainability report
Read our latest sustainability report:
READ THE ARTICLE
'I want to see results': Cargill Aqua Nutrition president ramps up efforts
to improve feed sustainability
READ THE ARTICLE
Cargill launches 'SeaFurther' carbon reduction scheme
for farmers
READ THE ARTICLE
Cargill helping salmon and trout farmers chart a path to net-zero emissions
READ THE ARTICLE
Kames Fish Farming Ltd. y Salmones Aysén se unen a la iniciativa de sostenibilidad SeaFurther™ de Cargill
READ THE ARTICLE
Cargill outlines ambitious carbon reduction goals for aquaculture
READ THE ARTICLE
Coming from fish meal, they have a low footprint, but we focus on sourcing from sustainably fished sources
and using by-product materials.
Coming from fish oil, they have a very low carbon footprint, but we focus on sourcing from sustainably fished sources and using by-product materials.
Provide energy for the fish to grow, but agricultural inputs start with a relatively high footprint.
Provide a top up on essential nutrients for healthy fish growth.
Raw materials
1%
10%
15%
Impact of each step of the value chain on the overall GHG emissions
Example considering an average Norwegian salmon feed
Provide protein together
with marine proteins,
but agricultural inputs
have a higher footprint
than marine.
Optimizing production involves managing energy use in feed production and farming, streamlining transportation and logistics, and tailoring our feeds to the fish and environments they’re destined for.
Energy use and logistics are key areas where we have most direct control. We play our part in our own operations, but the collaborative nature of SeaFurther allows us to work with our suppliers and our customers to share learnings and leverage each other’s footprint-reducing progress. We focus on energy efficiency, renewable energy, and carefully planning inbound and outbound transportation of materials, people, and feed.
READ THE ARTICLE
READ THE ARTICLE
READ THE ARTICLE
READ THE ARTICLE
READ THE ARTICLE
Pablo Baraona
Director of Salmones Aysen
Neil Manchester
Managing Director,
Kames Fish Farming Ltd.
Pilar Cruz
Chief Sustainability Officer
Helene Ziv-Douki
President of Cargill's aqua nutrition business
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