Weetabix Food Company - Net Zero Carbon Wheat

An exciting aspect of the work is the relatively recent creation of a Pioneer Group within our growers group. This is a small set of farmers and industry specialists who are working together to understand how to produce low or net zero carbon wheat on an economic scale. The goal is to work with farmers to grow and source net zero carbon wheat by:

• Establishing and updating a robust wheat growing protocol, using industry standards, for assessing greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration.
• Establishing a robust baseline for wheat greenhouse gas emissions, that is representative of the diversity of farming, soil types and climate conditions amongst growers.
• Collating baseline data to understand the sources and factors that influence greenhouse gas emissions. Use this information to help growers understand their emissions and the opportunities to reduce them.
• Taking a farmer-led approach and working with them to design the trials. The group includes a diverse group of farmers growing different soil types and is being led by their expertise.
• Building a robust understanding of what emissions reduction and carbon sequestration is possible and evaluating the economic costs and risks.
• Building a sourcing mechanism to incentivise and secure low/net zero carbon wheat.
• Setting year-on-year targets for the proportion of low/net zero carbon wheat supplied to help meet company net zero carbon goals.

The biggest challenge is achieving significant change rather than just talking about it. Growers and merchants have many demands on them, and there are a multitude of approaches to sustainably sourcing wheat.

The project has helped to focus minds and align growers while not stifling their initiative on other environmental priorities, such as nature conservation. This has shown how we can drive reductions in carbon footprint and will enable us to create a roadmap to source net zero carbon wheat. Hopefully, it will also inspire other food manufacturers to reduce their own emissions.

Award sponsored by ADAS