Agriculture and Plant-Based Food Stocks

From plant-based foods, to alternative meat, to preventing food waste, and efficient irrigation, see below for the full list of every food and agriculture stock in Carbon Collective's Climate Index.

Food waste and agriculture are big greenhouse gas emitters.

One-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions and 10% of US emissions in 2019 came from the agricultural sector. Livestocks like cows, agricultural soils, and rice production accounted for much of these emissions. The meat-centric Western diet perpetuates methane-emitting cattle-ranching and land-use dedicated to mono-cropping for feedstock - both unsustainable agricultural practices.

Food waste also contributes 4.4 gigatons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year in the form of methane - roughly 8% of total anthropogenic emissions. In low-income countries, food waste is the result of weak infrastructure, lack of refrigeration, poor equipment or packaging, and combination of heat and humidity. In high-income countries, most of the food waste is intentional: retailers reject food based on their aesthetic imperfections, or consumers overestimate how much food they'll cook in a week.

Another big source of emissions are inefficiencies in farm irrigation. That's because pumping and distributing water requires energy, releasing emissions in the process. Particularly inefficient and detrimental is "flood" or "basin" irrigation, which submerges fields to water crops. This irrigation method remains the most common approach in many parts of the world, but can cause soil erosion and water depletion by diverting it from rivers and aquifers.

There are many solutions to food waste and agriculture emissions.

Emissions from cattle-raising can be mitigated through balanced diets. Plant-based and sustainably produced animal-sourced food can both curb the global warming potential of agriculture and help us lead healthier lives. Project Drawdown estimates that if 50-75% of the world's population restricts their diet to a healthy average of 2,250 calories a day and reduces meat consumption overall, the world can cut up to 68 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

There are numerous and varied ways to address food waste, too. Things as simple as using better storage bags, silos, or crates while transporting and storing food can make a difference. Companies can also make products and solutions to extend the shelf-life of food, thereby delaying food waste.

As for making farm irrigation more efficient, a couple of irrigation methods are promising. Drip irrigation achieves 90% application efficiency, and sprinkler irrigates gets up to 70% precision. Project Drawdown estimates that if 286.5 million hectares of farmland worldwide can be irrigated using these methods (only 53.8 million hectares were watered by drip and sprinkler irrigation in 2018), they can save 68 billion gallons of water and 2.07 gigatons of CO2 emissions by 2050.

We need to do it fast.

Convincing every person in the world to go vegetarian or vegan is probably out of the question, especially in the short timeframe we have to combat climate change. But there are many companies that are making plant-based foods and protein sources, as well as alternative meat products, that would appeal to non-vegetarians and vegans. The challenge is for these companies to scale as fast as we need them to.

The same can be said about companies working on solutions to food waste and irrigation efficiency. We need more of these companies, but more crucially, we need the existing ones to expand.

Here are the publicly traded companies that are making it happen. This list represents all of the plant-based food, alternative meat, irrigation efficiency and food waste reduction stocks that make more revenue from Drawdown solutions than from fossil fuel-dependent business traded on the New York Stock Exchange (except for penny stocks whose share prices were less than $0.50 in our last update).

If you are a Carbon Collective member, you own all of these companies through the Climate Index.

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% ALLOCATED	Company Type	Company	Category	DESCRIPTION
0.02%	Food Waste	AgroFresh Solutions	Pure Play	Agrofresh sells products like packaging solutions that extend the shelf life of food, preventing food waste from the spoilage of produce.
0.40%	Plant-based diet	Beyond Meat	Pure Play	Beyond Meat sells various plant-based meat products. It has partnered with various fast food chains like McDonald's, KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut.
-	Food Waste	Bioceres Crop Solutions	No Drawdown Solution	Bioceres' products help maximize crop yield, not reduce food waste, leaving them without a Drawdown solution
0.02%	Plant-based diet	Burcon NutraScience	Pure Play	Burcon makes plant-based products like plant proteins and dairy alternatives.
-	Nutrient Management	CF Industries Holdings	No Drawdown Solution	CF Industries creates nitrogen products for agriculture but they do not help promote nutrient management, a Drawdown solution
-	Food Waste	Corteva	No Drawdown Solution	BioCorteva's products help maximize crop yield, not reduce food waste, leaving them without a Drawdown solutionceres' products help maximize crop yield, not reduce food waste, leaving them without a Drawdown solution
-	Nutrient Management	Flexible Solutions International	Lacks Sufficient Information	Flexible Solutions International produces nitrogen conservation products, a Drawdown solution, but also produces products for the oil and gas industries. A revenue breakdown is not present
-	Food Waste	FMC	No Drawdown Solution	FMC's products help protect crops from pests, not reduce food waste, leaving them without a Drawdown solution
0.02%	Plant-based diet	Laird Superfood	Pure Play	Laird sells plant-based food, such as hydrate coconut water and renew plant-based proteins.
-	Perennial Staple	Limoneira	Failed Revenue Filter	Limoneira 's Drawdown revenue comes from growing avocados, a perennial staple crop. It however derives the vast majority of its total revenue from other non-perennial crops.
-	Efficient Irrigation	Lindsay	No Drawdown Solution	Lindsay sells different irrigation systems and offers repair services for those systems. It also sells moveable barrier systems that help in many applications such as highway reconstruction.
-	Food Waste	Marrone Bio Innovations	No Drawdown Solution	Maronne Bio's products help protect crops from pests, not reduce food waste, leaving them without a Drawdown solution
0.02%	Plant-based diet	MeaTech 3D	Pure Play	Meatech 3D develops cultured meat products without animal slaughtering. In this process stem cells are collected without harming the animals, grown in reactors, diffentiated into fat and muscle cells, and finally formed into unstructured cultured meat products.
0.49%	Plant-based diet	Oatly Group	Pure Play	Oatly sells plant-based dairy products made from oats.
0.02%	Food Waste	Save Foods	Pure Play	Save Foods sells post-harvest food acid and oxidizer blends that extend the shelf life of food, preventing food waste.
-	Nutrient Management	Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile	No Drawdown Solution	Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile sells fertilizer but not in a way that promotes nutrient management, meaning they do not produce a Drawdown solution.
0.05%	Plant-based diet	SunOpta	Pure Play	SunOpta sells plant-based foods and beverages, many of which use almond, soy, coconut, oat, or hemp.
-	Plant-based diet	Tattooed Chef	No Drawdown Solution	Tattooed Chef, sells vegetarian/vegan products, but in order to count towards the Drawdown solution of promoting a plant-based diet, a must not make products that include animal products.
0.28%	Plant-based diet	The Hain Celestial Group	Passed Revenue Filter	Hain sells a variety of plant-based snack products like tortilla chips, whole grain chips, and pita chips.
0.33%	Efficient Irrigation	Valmont Industries	Passed Revenue Filter	Valmont Industries, derives its revenue in part from irrigation efficiency and improving grid flexibility, both Drawdown solutions, through the sale of precision irrigation solutions and structures for utility transmission and distribution, while receiving no revenue from products specifically built for the fossil fuel industry.
-	Plant-based diet	Whole Earth Brands	Fails Tobacco Filter	Whole Earth Brands makes plant-based consumer packaged goods, but it also makes flavored products used by the tobacco industry, thus failing the tobacco filter