1) Consistent Metrics

Morrisons launched its new Sustainable Farm Networks programme in partnership with Harper Adams University which will offer farmers within their supply chain training on practices which will reduce their environmental impact, and baselining soil quality.   

Arla’s six regenerative pilot farms working with FAI are now entering their final year. Arla’s 360 Programme continues to pays for soil sampling (no specific metrics are required other than Soil Organic Matter). 

Waitrose partnered with Land App to help more than 2,000 farmers across the UK gather real-time data on the environmental health of their land, mapping over 60 sustainability metrics including multiple soil health indicators. 

2) Soil Risk Reduction and Mitigation

PepsiCo, Nestlé, Tesco and Waitrose took part in the first meeting of Defra’s food resilience group which was set up to support the work of the Food and Drink Sector Council. The first meeting considered the risks of climate change to the supply chain.  

Nestlé continues working on their collaborative Landscape Enterprise Networks (LENs) model, which allows different industries and businesses to understand and invest in ways to reverse nature degradation and support farmers in doing so. 

Nestlé Waters and First Milk are working with farmers to reduce soil compaction and improve water infiltration on their land, using regenerative practices. 

3) Communications

Sainsbury's hosted a Soil Health Action Group meeting, convening their suppliers and advisors to discuss soil health measuring and monitoring, best practices and the policy landscape. 

Tesco in collaboration with Harper Adams University, undertook research with over 300 UK farmers on the future sustainability of the industry. 74% of farmers surveyed were concerned about the impact of climate change on their farms. and two-thirds (67%) were already seeing the effects. 

Innocent has pledged £1 million in grants to help its suppliers transition to low-carbon practices and boost biodiversity, alongside launching a new promotional campaign which aims to raise awareness of the importance of soil health. 

King Arthur Baking Company has launched a new 100% regeneratively grown whole wheat flour in the US. Part of the brand’s goal for all its flour to be regeneratively grown by 2030.   

4)  Knowledge Exchange

Sainsbury’s expanded its partnership with The Woodland Trust to support farmers to implement agroforestry while maintaining food production. The programme will give farmers access to land-mapping tools to help them predict benefits such as soil health and biodiversity improvement. The announcement is part of a commitment by the supermarket to plant an extra 1.5 million trees by the end of 2025. 

Ocado have teamed up with the Soil Association to set up five demonstration farms which promote nature-friendly farming methods. The five farms will each focus on a different area of farming, and will host training sessions on topics including soil quality and crop rotations to help farmers share knowledge and improve practices. 

Unilever has announced its first regenerative agriculture programme in the UK, which will include the use of low carbon fertiliser and the introduction of cover crops on trial farms. 

ADM has partnered with the Farmer Business Network to support farmers to adopt regenerative practices. The organisations have come together to expand a platform which provides farmers with the ability to predict the impact of adopting practices, generating data which helps them prove their environmental credentials to buyers.  

Mars Incorporated is looking to scale the use of regenerative agriculture practices across its European pet nutrition business. 

5) Financial support

Waitrose announced its plans to source all meat, milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables from UK farms which use regenerative practices by 2035. This will include developing mechanisms to help farmers access affordable finance to support their transition, provide a market for regeneratively produced products and enable knowledge sharing and training via a permanent Centre for Excellence. 

Tesco partnered with NatWest to launch a finance scheme to help its farmers transition to sustainable farming methods.  

Lloyds banking group has announced a new project to support nature restoration in England. The bank has donated £250,000 between three nature recovery projects. 

Co-op announced a new ‘Future Farming Fund’ which is designed to support its farmers adopt sustainable farming practices and improve climate resilience. The funding kicks off with projects focusing on key sustainable farming methods. Its soil project, Better soil for better forage, includes in-depth soil testing to help shape soil management. 

ASDA introduced a sustainable supply chain finance scheme, expanding their partnership with HSBC UK to reward suppliers for their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts. 

Barclays issued a paper on Creating New Nature Markets that Work for Farmers, detailing the driving factors behind the farmer and landowner hesitance to issue biodiversity credits and outlining recommendations to UK Government. 

6) Carbon/Net Zero 

Arla continues rewarding farmers for sustainability actions via their FarmAhead™ Incentive. Through their FarmAhead™ Customer Partnerships, Arla’s customers can invest in on-farm sustainability efforts and directly contribute to reducing Arla's emissions. 

Tesco announced the accelerated rollout of low carbon fertiliser use across their supply chain.  

Co-op announced funding for organisations who pioneer food production without damaging peatlands. Collaborating with the retailer’s charitable arm The Co-op Foundation via their Carbon Innovation Fund, £1 million will be divided between seven projects, including one developing soil additives from algae and another developing compost using worms.