UK | Tesco and Forestry England have launched an exciting new partnership.
Tesco will restore nature across a beautiful landscape in Neroche, Somerset. The partnership will aim to increase the diversity and abundance of wildlife across the area, which is made up of woodland, pasture, and heathland.
Tesco will support Forestry England in transforming the landscape, helping it become a sanctuary for wildlife to thrive and expand.
Neroche and the wider Blackdown Hills region are home to several of Tesco’s beef, dairy, and lamb farmers. The partnership hopes to provide valuable insight into how large-scale nature restoration can aid sustainable food production.
This is the first announcement made as part of Tesco’s Nature Programme, a series of initiatives and partnerships that will help protect and restore nature in Tesco’s supply chains.
The first year of the project in Somerset will focus on collecting data on the range of species in the area through environmental DNA samples of soil and water, ecology surveys, and bioacoustics data gathered using the latest AI listening technology. The partnership will also trial fence-free cattle grazing to help improve the landscape's condition.
Both organisations hope to broaden the scope of the work into the wider Blackdown Hills and Somerset landscapes by collaborating with neighbouring landowners, including Tesco’s farmers and suppliers, encouraging more nature-friendly farming practices and interventions, such as planting hedgerows and wildflowers.
The retailer will use the initiative's lessons as a model for on-farm interventions across the UK.
“The UK food industry relies on healthy soils, clean water supplies, and abundant biodiversity, so we must play our part in protecting and restoring nature in our supply chains,” said Ashwin Prasad, Tesco’s Chief Commercial Officer.
“We’ve been working with our farmers and suppliers for some time on protecting and restoring nature. As part of this work, they’ve told us they want more help implementing measures that will help tackle climate change and biodiversity loss.”
Through the Nature Programme, they will trial innovative, nature-based solutions and share practical advice and expertise that can be rolled out to farmers and producers across our supply base.
“Neroche is one of four wild areas within the nation’s forests where we are taking a bold approach to restoring fully functioning ecosystems. Over time, we’ll allow natural processes to have more space to shape this beautiful landscape so that a mosaic of thriving habitats including woodland, pasture and wet heathland allow wildlife to move and flourish,” said Mike Seddon, Forestry England Chief Executive.
“Gathering vital information on the biodiversity present will guide our future actions to restore nature here. We’re delighted to partner with Tesco, which shares a vision for creating a more resilient, diverse, and nature-rich landscape.”
Tesco’s Nature Programme was launched last year to build on the work of the Tesco WWF partnership, which ended in November 2023.
The Programme will focus its efforts on five key areas of action: protecting nature in critical sourcing landscapes, both in the UK and abroad; scaling industry-leading innovations to support biodiversity; implementing a nature plan across its estate and operations; continuing to lead the industry on research into critical challenges facing nature and the food system; and playing a leading role in cross-sector engagement.
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