A multi-year commitment from Tesco will see trailblazing farms trial new technologies and share learnings to scale the adoption of sustainable approaches. The farms – one in partnership with potato supplier Branston and one in partnership with livestock processor, ABP, will explore current and future innovations such as low carbon fertilisers, alternative fuels, state-of-the-art cold storage, and carbon removal techniques, as well as innovation in other areas including soil health, grazing management, biodiversity assessment and management, and genetic improvements.
Speaking in a session on 10 January at the Oxford Farming Conference, Tesco’s Chief Commercial Officer, Ashwin Prasad called on government to set a clear vision for sustainable agriculture, including greater investment and policy certainty, to enable the industry to drive sustainable economic growth. The recommendations are based on a new report, produced by Tesco in collaboration with Harper Adams University, which consulted more than 300 UK farmers on the future sustainability of the industry.
Tesco research shows farmers want government to set clear, long-term food and agriculture policy and provide innovation funding to safeguard future of UK farming. New consultation of British farmers finds that many are seeing climate change impact on farms, but are held back from adopting sustainability measures due to lack of funding and policy uncertainty.
Ashwin Prasad emphasized the importance of Tesco’s planned venture, stating, “We’ve already been working with farmers to help them reduce their environmental impact, from providing incentives to measure their carbon footprint to rolling out new innovations like low-carbon fertilizers.
“We’re pleased to be building on this further with our new low-carbon test farms, working with some of our supplier partners to pioneer new approaches to understand the most effective ways to reduce emissions and environmental impact.”
Harper Adams University Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Lee said: “As the Greenprint report notes, farmers know the importance of tackling climate change – with most reporting they are already seeing its effect on their farms. Giving farmers the skills and knowledge they need to farm sustainably was one of the drivers for Harper Adams University as we set up the School of Sustainable Food and Farming. The School works with key industry players to boost the skills and knowledge of farmers and others in our food chain as we move towards sustainable Net Zero.
“The successful Tesco Future Farmer programme is a great example of how farmers, retailers and researchers at universities like Harper Adams can all strive together to build a sustainable future.
“The challenge of moving our food and farming systems towards Net Zero and ensuring food security at the same time is huge, and we all need to work together to take it on.”
Source: Tesco. Full press release here