UK | Morrisons announced at the Great Yorkshire Show its collaboration with The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture (TIAH) to support its farmers on the journey to net zero.
As the biggest direct customer of UK agriculture, Morrisons will trial TIAH’s digital platform, part-funded by DEFRA, to help address the skills gaps in agriculture.
The Institute For Agriculture and Horticulture and the School of Sustainable Food & Farming at Harper Adams University have developed four distinct modules offering farmers a step-by-step approach to learning critical information such as calving best practices, common beef disease, measuring and improving growth and efficient forage.
“Progress towards net zero in agriculture requires constant innovation, new thinking and challenging the accepted practices. We’re proud to be the first retailer to partner with TIAH to help our livestock farmers reduce their environmental impact,” said Sophie Throup, Technical and Sustainability Director at Myton Food Group for Morrisons.
“We look forward to testing and trialling new practices with 20 of our farmers to help us develop the next phase of our march towards net zero by 2030. Better information leads to better practices, and this new partnership will help deliver that.”
The news came after Morrisons, McDonald’s and the NFU founded the School of Sustainable Food & Farming at Harper Adams University, Shropshire, in 2022 to support farmers in producing food more sustainably.
It followed a report by Lord Curry of Food & Farming Futures, who worked with Professor James Lowenberg-DeBoer and Professor Michael Lee from Harper Adams to examine how agriculture can be supported and coordinated to address the productivity gap in UK agriculture.
“I am delighted to see a major retailer partnering with The Institute For Agriculture and Horticulture to support knowledge exchange with our nation’s food producers. It is vital that our farmers have access to information that supports sustainable food production, and I applaud Morrisons for taking this step forward. This is groundbreaking and a springboard for our nation’s farmers,” said Curry.
The school has already had great success in welcoming more than 100 farmers to Morrisons stores, encouraging networking and engagement, and helping provide the farmers with a deeper understanding of the journey their produce takes from their farms to supermarket shelves.
“We are pleased to be working with Morrisons to develop this unique programme to support livestock farmers with their sustainability goals. We will work to ensure this trial will enable us to learn about how farmers want to access and action learning for impact on their farms,” said Stephen Jacob, CEO of TIAH.
Morrisons has been committed to introducing sustainable products across all business areas through lower emissions sourcing and reducing the amount of plastic used. Last year, Morrisons became the first supermarket to introduce its own carbon-neutral egg.
