This was one of the key takeaways from an April webinar hosted by the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists, where industry leaders reflected on the outcomes of COP30 and assessed what they mean for agriculture going forward.
Speakers agreed that while the sector featured more prominently in discussions, significant gaps remained in translating that visibility into concrete policy action. They also highlighted the need for stronger collaboration across sectors, clearer communication, and more effective integration of agriculture into broader climate debates.
Tara McCarthy, global vice president of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) at Alltech, said expectations that COP30 would serve as an ‘implementation COP’ were not fully realised.
“A lot of discussions were agriculture talking to agriculture. It is a very complex topic that is not easily understood by those not in the sector.”
She added that this lack of understanding often leads to oversimplified narratives: “The debate that then follows is characterised by those who don’t understand agriculture and therefore don’t ask the right questions.”
According to McCarthy, a fundamental challenge is that climate and food security discussions are too often separated.
“The questions that need answering during these debates are: ‘How do we save the world?’ and ‘How do we feed the world?’ At COP and many other such engagements, the discussion usually separates the two issues. We need to answer both in the same conversation,” she explained.
Todd Rosenstock, director of the climate action programme at CGIAR, agreed and said that COP30 was not the place where agriculture shined in the negotiating space.
“But there were key points that pushed its agenda forward. Engagement is beginning to broaden beyond traditional silos, and people who historically weren’t in the same room are now coming together to find solutions,” he added.
Meanwhile, McCarthy stressed that the agriculture sector needs to take greater responsibility for telling its own story.
“It’s too easy for a soundbite to define our sector: ‘meat is bad’, ‘cattle are bad’. We must do more to explain and defend the industry. We need to be better at that, proactively, and not let policymakers decide based on incomplete information,” she explained.
Key takeaways from COP30
Rosenstock identified three key outcomes from COP30.
The first was agreement on indicators linked to the global goal on adaptation. He said that while not fully aligned with scientific expectations, the inclusion of agriculture marked progress.
“Of the around 59 indicators that were adopted, five were about agriculture and nine were about water. For the first time we can start to think about how we can measure adaptation in food systems, and countries must report against these indicators,” he said.
The second related to climate finance, which he described as weak in its current form. “The language of the policies is, unfortunately, very weak and mostly calls for efforts to raise finance, without giving clarity as to how the funds will be raised.”
The third outcome pointed to improvements in Nationally Determined Contributions, the frameworks outlining how countries intend to meet their climate targets.
Petra Laux, chief sustainability officer at Syngenta, emphasised the need for structural changes to support meaningful progress. She said a globally accepted system for managing carbon markets and trade is needed, and warned that inconsistent definitions of sustainability risk distorting markets.
“We can’t have some crops being penalised with tariffs because of a perception that they are not natural or sustainable, when that definition is based on ideology and not science.”
Laux also called for regulatory harmonisation to speed up approval processes and accelerate innovation.
Despite limited progress in formal negotiations, the webinar concluded that COP30 had helped to elevate agriculture’s role in climate discussions.
However, speakers agreed that the sector will need to strengthen its voice, improve collaboration, and push for clearer policy frameworks to ensure that momentum translates into meaningful change.
