British farming plays a crucial role in producing nutritious food for the UK and the world. However, the industry continues to face challenges, including climate change, adverse weather, labour shortages, and changing government policy and support, meaning many farmers need to focus on what they know will deliver. Often this can result in innovation taking a back seat, despite it being something farmers are keen to do more of.
Mark Willcox, agronomy director at Branston explains, “The starting point for a grower is always ‘at what point am I risking my marketable yield by doing things differently?’ Their returns are key. If you ask whether farmers want to innovate? Yes, they do. But within the confines of what is an acceptable risk to take.”
The Tesco Greenprint for UK Farming report, launched in January, underscores this point. “Innovation was one of the key themes that came out of our report,” says Natalie Smith, head of sustainable agriculture and fisheries, at Tesco.
“The principle of our research was for us to ask our farmers directly what they thought some of the challenges and opportunities were in terms of transitioning to net zero. Technology was one of the key areas where they felt there were real barriers around uptake.”
Recognising that farmers need support in shouldering risk, and that they are more likely to adopt practices that have been tested on similar farms, Tesco has partnered with two of its suppliers, including Branston, to develop its low-carbon concept farms. “We’ll be focused on the testing and trialling of new farm management practices, as well as new technologies and innovations that we can monitor, measure, manage and see what impact they have,” explains Natalie Smith.
“Most importantly we’ll share that insight across our broader supply chain, so farmers can understand what sort of impact we’re seeing and how that can translate into their own farming.” Mark Willcox’s team at Branston is now working on deploying this “recipe”of technologies and practices that aim to get potatoes to net zero and keep yields and quality high. “The recipe is half a dozen things at the moment that are all doable,” he says.
One key technology is ultra-low nitrogen fertiliser, developed by previous winners of the Tesco Agri T-Jam competition. Another is reducing the amount of disturbance to the soil, as this releases stored carbon, by changing tilling practices. “Another big win that we’ve developed over the last 18 months is super-low-carbon cold stores,” Willcox says. Potatoes are mostly lifted in September and stored to ensure a good supply to consumers. “We’ve successfully designed a completely new way of looking at that which is currently saving 40 per cent like-for-like electricity.”
Branston and Tesco are planning on bringing the 120 farmers who work with them to the low-carbon concept farm to share learnings and demonstrate the new technologies. “It’s about showing a practical working farm,” Willcox says. “And consumers will benefit from continuing to have a great British product that helps protect them and their children’s long-term future.”“We feel that we can support farmers by showing them the art of the possible, which is the principle of these low-carbon concept farms,” Smith concludes. The potential to make British farming a leader in low-carbon technologies and practices is hugely significant, and this is an important first step on the journey. A Greenprint for UK Farming: Working in partnership with UK farmers to deliver a more sustainable food system: www.tescoplc.com/greenprint-report