Retailer Co-op has announced a new £820,000 fund to advance sustainable practices, including financially rewarding farmers to reduce carbon emissions.
The significant investment will also see farmer suppliers rewarded for actions such as promoting nature on their farms across beef, lamb and dairy sectors.
It will be allocated across two key projects, with businesses able to access sustainability payments above the price they are already paid for their products.
The first project will see Co-op partnering with the Soil Association Exchange to support the 140 farmers in its Dairy Farming Group in reducing their carbon footprint and begin to baseline key nature indicators like biodiversity and soil health
Sustainability payments will be rewarded to the farms as part of the project, whilst farmers will be able to choose an action plan that works for them, which could include cutting fertiliser use, increasing fuel efficiency, and investing in solar energy.
The second project, Co-op’s Beef Sustainability Scheme, will reward farmers for adopting on-farm sustainable practices and will be open to members of the retailer's Farming Group.
The scheme, which launches after a successful two-year pilot, will be extended to 15% of the retailer’s beef supply chain this year and include lamb farmers for the first time.
The supermarket chain said that more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon are expected to be saved under the programme over a five-year period as it grows the percentage of beef and lamb supply covered by the scheme.
Farmers will be reducing their impact through a range of actions, from breeding more efficient animals through to improving forage quality.
Responding to the two projects, Tom Bramall, chair of the Co-op Dairy Group, admitted that farmers needed more support to become more sustainable.
He said: “In these uncertain times for our industry, we need to work together across the supply chain.
"It’s fantastic to see the Co-op directly rewarding farmers and recognise the positive role we play in addressing the issues around climate change."
It comes after Tesco recently announced new plans to set up two low carbon concept farms to trial innovative greener farming methods.
The multi-year commitment from the retailer will see the farms trial new technologies and share learnings to scale the adoption of sustainable approaches.
