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Morrisons: Championing sustainable farming
As British farming’s biggest direct supermarket customer, Morrisons are in a strong position to champion changes in sustainable farming.
We set an ambition to be directly supplied by ‘Net Zero’ British farms by 2030, working directly with the British farmers we’ve known for generations who supply our own brand beef, pork, lamb, potatoes and eggs.
For us, ‘net zero’ farming is all about putting sustainability in the heart of the farm business, working with the farmers who supply us on how to lower emissions, improve carbon holding capacity in soils, hedgerows and trees while managing costs and farm profitability.
It’s also where biodiversity programmes such as introducing pollinator strips to farmland, form part of the overall picture.
This year, we have become the first supermarket to launch our own ‘carbon neutral’ eggs as part of our Net Zero Agriculture programme.
You can find our ‘Planet Friendly Eggs’ in 50 Yorkshire stores, sourced from a Morrisons’ supplying farm where hens are fed a soya-free diet of insects – which are in turn fed on food waste from our own bakery, fruit and vegetable sites.
This pioneering ‘circular waste’ feeding scheme, powered by Better Origin technology, reduces deforestation caused by soya production, a significant contributor to the farm’s emissions footprint.
Our project working with Better Origin is a key part of our work to support innovation programmes that aim to tackle the climate challenge on farms differently.
© Morrisons
Sustainable Beef and Lamb Scheme
We have also launched our Sustainable Beef and Lamb Scheme, to recognise and support farmers in these sectors working to help the environment.
The scheme will offer livestock premiums, discounts, subsidised audits and free environmental advice to help and reward farmers for:
- Reducing carbon emissions
- Sourcing ‘greener’ feeds
- Putting in place measures to become land and nature positive (by improving things like biodiversity and soil health)
- Becoming animal and enterprise positive (by focussing on aspects like herd health and protecting family farming).
Sophie Throup, Head of Agriculture at Morrisons, said: “Truly sustainable farming means looking at the whole farm and all aspects that make it sustainable including environmental impact.
We are investing in expertise, tools, training and sharing learning on our Net Zero Agriculture programme to help farmers make a supported transition to the lower impact nature and climate friendly practices that will take British Agriculture forward: the whole farm is at the heart of the solution.
Over our whole Net Zero agriculture programme, so far over 200 farms have joined us on our journey, with many more expected to be on board by the end of 2022. If you would like to know more, please contact Jessica Tomley at jessica.tomley@morrisonsplc.co.uk
You can find out more about our journey to 2030 here
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Morrisons is one of the UK's largest food retailers serving around 11 million customers each week.
Uniquely, we source and make most of the fresh food that we sell through our own manufacturing facilities. Our integrated business makes us the only UK retailer with our own livestock buyers; we source animals, produce and whole crops directly from over 2,700 British farmers, some of whom have been supplying us for over 30 years.
This makes us British farming's biggest direct supermarket customer, and helps us maintain our commitment to only selling 100% British across our fresh meat, milk and eggs.
Find out more at morrisons-farming.com