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Morrisons announces collaboration to support beef producers on the journey to Net Zero

Posted 10 July

Morrisons has announced its collaboration with The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture (TIAH) to support its beef producers on the journey to Net Zero this week at the Great Yorkshire Show. 

As the biggest direct customer of UK agriculture, Morrisons will trial TIAH’s digital platform, part-funded by DEFRA, to help address the skills gaps in agriculture.

TIAH, together with the  at ÎÞÂ붯»­, has developed four distinct modules offering farmers a step-by-step approach to learning the key information.

The topics will cover:

• Calving best practice
• Common beef disease
• Measuring and improving growth
• Efficient forage

The news comes after Morrisons, McDonald’s and the NFU founded the School of Sustainable Food and Farming at ÎÞÂ붯»­, Shropshire in 2022 to support farmers to produce food more sustainably. 

It followed a report by Lord Curry of Food & Farming Futures, who worked with Elizabeth Creak Chair of Agri-Tech Economics  Professor James Lowenberg-DeBoer and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Lee from Harper Adams to examine how agriculture can be supported and co-ordinated to address the productivity gap in UK agriculture.

The School has already had great success in welcoming more than 100 farmers to Morrisons stores, where events have encouraged networking, engagement and helped provide the farmers with a deeper understanding of the journey their produce goes on from their farms to supermarket shelves.  A further calendar of events is planned for the upcoming months.

Sophie Throup, Technical and Sustainability Director at Myton Food Group for Morrisons, said: “Progress towards net zero in agriculture requires constant innovation, new thinking and challenging the accepted practices. We’re proud to be the first retailer to partner with TIAH to support our livestock farmers in reducing their environmental impact.

"We are looking forward to testing and trialling new practices with 20 of our farmers to help us develop the next phase of our march towards net zero by 2030.  Better information leads to better practices and this new partnership will help deliver that.” 

Lord Curry said: “I am delighted to see a major retailer partnering with TIAH to support knowledge exchange with our nation’s food producers. It is vital our farmers have access to information that supports sustainable food production and I applaud Morrisons for taking this step forward. This is groundbreaking and a spring board for our nation’s farmers.”  

Stephen Jacob, Chief Executive of TIAH, said: “We are pleased to be working with Morrisons to develop this unique programme to support livestock farmers with their sustainability goals. We will work to ensure this trial will enable us to learn about the way in which farmers want to access and action learning for impact on their farms.”