A standardised reporting framework is needed to help farmers reduce their environmental impact
Three-quarters of farmers are concerned by the lack of consistency in environmental standards and assurance and want to see greater commonality in how sustainability metrics are measured
Family-owned farming business Huntapac is one of the largest root vegetable producers in the UK, growing around 4,000 acres of carrots and parsnips every year.
The Lancashire-based company prides itself on producing healthy, affordable and sustainable vegetables and, like many farming businesses, regularly measures its sustainability metrics.
But there is widespread frustration in the farming sector that there is no standardised data reporting framework in place to track industry-wide progress and provide useful data and strategies to help farmers reduce their environmental impact.
More than three-quarters of farmers (77 per cent) surveyed for Tesco’s new Greenprint for UK Farming report expressed concern at the lack of consistency in environmental standards and assurance. They called for greater commonality in how sustainability metrics – including emissions, energy use, soil carbon, and animal health and welfare improvements – are measured.
According to research published by agricultural and environmental consultancy ADAS on behalf of DEFRA last year, more than 80 carbon tools have been developed to quantify farm emissions. This lack of standardisation means that collecting and recording data is time-consuming and complicated.
“If we’re ploughing or bedding or doing something that’s industry-standard the reporting platforms work fine,” says farmer Stephen Shields, Huntapac’s Technical Director.
“Our challenge is when we do things that are new or innovative, such as using low-carbon fertilisers. Measuring the carbon input and inputting it on to a carbon platform is difficult.
“At Huntapac we have about 15 audits across different customers and different standards. We’d like to see a simplification of audits so you’re not having to duplicate information that you’re submitting. Introducing platforms and using technology to host data that multiple stakeholders could access would help.”
Tesco’s Greenprint for UK Farming report makes a number of recommendations to simplify and standardise data collection for farmers. It wants the government to agree a common set of metrics for both environmental and animal health and welfare data – a streamlined system that is straightforward for farmers to use and enables the sharing of aggregate data across the industry, thereby supporting more targeted, insight-driven emissions reduction.
The report also recommends that the government, retailers and broader agriculture supply chain support farmers by establishing a centralised carbon reporting hub.
Tesco has already put a raft of measures in place to support standardised metrics and certifications.
Since 2016, farmers in the Tesco Sustainable Dairy Group (TSDG) have received an annual bespoke carbon assessment report that helps them to identify emissions hotspots on their farms. In that time, carbon emissions from TSDG farmers have decreased by 8.5 per cent.
Tesco has also led the way in strengthening the environmental standards required of its growers in the UK. In 2023, the retailer completed its landmark roll-out of the LEAF Marque certification. All its UK fruit and vegetable growers are now certified to robust environmental standards, working towards whole-farm improvement in areas like climate resilience, biodiversity, soil health, greenhouse emissions and deforestation.
“All Tesco growers in the UK are now LEAF Marque certified and the ambition is that all our rest-of-the-world growers which supply into the UK will be certified by the end of the year,” says Rebecca Schofield, Technical Produce Manager at Tesco. “LEAF gives us a consistent tool, enabling growers to capture a myriad of different data sets, from soil management to reduction in pesticides, all on one platform”.
Read the Tesco Greenprint for UK farming report here.
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