Green growth – driving innovation on British farms
Natalie Smith, Head of Sustainable Agriculture and Fisheries at Tesco
Tesco has unveiled plans to launch two low-carbon concept farms in its UK supply chain this year
The UK farming sector has the potential to be a powerful driver of green growth in the economy – but getting innovative technology and adopting sustainable practices on farms will be key to producing affordable, sustainable food.
The challenge is that innovation comes with risk. In an industry that is hyper-focused on output and ensuring marketable yield, trying something different and untested is often outside of farmers’ comfort zones and not always financially viable without additional funding.
Nearly three-quarters of farmers (73 per cent) surveyed for Tesco’s new Greenprint for UK Farming report cited the lack of funding available for investment and innovation as one of their biggest concerns.
They said that funding is often difficult to access, the application process can be complicated and difficult to navigate, and much of the available funding is for new and emerging technologies rather than for proven innovations.
To address concerns like these, Tesco’s report, which was developed with Harper Adams University’s School of Sustainable Food and Farming, recommends developing a collaborative approach between industry stakeholders and government agencies to create a more streamlined funding application process. It has also called on the government to increase funding for all stages of innovation, including critical, late-stage innovation which needs to be scaled, as well as the ringfencing of funds for the devolved nations.
On a more practical front, Tesco, the biggest customer of UK agriculture, has also announced plans to launch two low-carbon concept farms in its UK supply chain this year.
The farms – one in partnership with potato supplier Branston and another in partnership with livestock processor ABP (part of Tesco’s beef supply chain) – will be trialling several innovative new technologies and farming practices. These include low-carbon fertilisers, alternative fuels, state-of-the-art cold storage, and carbon removal techniques.
“Our low-carbon concept farms will help farmers to see innovation in practice,” said Natalie Smith, Head of Sustainable Agriculture and Fisheries at Tesco. “And they’ll be able to see the impact on numbers and data on a farm that’s similar to their own."
Mark Willcox, Branston’s Agronomy Director, is looking forward to seeing the low-carbon concept farms in action. “We want to see just how close we can get to a genuine net-zero potato production system without having to offset or plant trees and additional hedges,” he says. “People have told us, well, root crops won’t ever be net-zero. You might be carbon neutral with a load of offsetting, but we are challenging that paradigm. There’s already some known stuff that we’re excited about and is validated with third parties, but the farms will also be a test bed for lots of other innovation.”
The results and insights from these low-carbon concept farms will be shared across the industry. After assessing the impact for themselves, the hope is that farmers will be willing to introduce the new management practices and technologies into their own businesses.
“Ultimately, we want to see the uptake of innovative practices and technology improve and increase over time – and to see that the things we’re advocating for have had a positive change within our supply chain. It’s about incremental improvement, learning and testing,” concludes Natalie Smith.
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