Agriculture is both a cause and a victim of the consequences of climate change. In the previous episode of Fieldnotes we spoke to Renuka Diwan, a young scientist who had founded a startup called Bioprime to help farmers fight adverse climatic conditions through bioscience formulations. But at the same time, India’s agriculture is a climate change contributor too. It accounts for 20% of the national Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. If India’s agricultural sector was an independent country, it would be the 7th highest greenhouse gas emitter, ranking above Brazil, South Korea, Canada, and Mexico. India has more than 100 million smallholder farmers with limited capacity and incentives to reduce their carbon footprint. It has the largest cattle population. Nearly a third of the world’s cattle live here. And India is the second-largest producer of rice, a crop that accounts for 2.5% of global GHG emissions.

Can Indian agriculture, which is part of the climate change problem, be a part of the solution? What can entrepreneurs in this sector, and the investors who fund them, do to address this?

Mark Kahn, the managing partner and co-founder at Omnivore in a candid conversation with TR Vivek talks about the many innovations by entrepreneurs on this front and the assorted challenges of being in the agribusiness in India.

Do listen!