Tesco has today 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.
The farms include one which supplies potato company Branston and one owned by livestock processor ABP.
According to Tesco, they will explore innovations such as low carbon fertilisers, alternative fuels, state-of-the-art cold storage, and carbon removal techniques.
Innovation in other areas will include in soil health, grazing management, biodiversity assessment and management, and genetic improvements.
The retailer said the trial will aim to provide farmers in its supply network with a "practical demonstration of a route to net zero, helping pave the way to more low carbon farms in the future".
At today's (10 January) Oxford Farming Conference, Ashwin Prasad, chief commercial officer at Tesco, will announce the new low carbon test farms.
Before the event, he said: “We’ve already been working with farmers to help them reduce their environmental impact, from providing incentives to measure their carbon footprint to rolling out new innovations like low carbon fertilisers.
"We’re pleased to be building on this further with our new test farms, working with some of our supplier partners to pioneer new approaches to understand the most effective ways to reduce emissions and environmental impact."
Tesco will also use today's conference to call on the government to better support farmers through a long-term food security strategy, as well as improved funding for all stages of innovation that aids sustainability.
At the same time, the supermarket will say it will continue to support the industry to implement clearer sustainability requirements and standards.
