Pladis and Frontier: Expanding Back to Farm Wheat Scheme

Pladis, the team behind popular brands like Jacob's, McVitie's and Carr's, has assisted UK wheat growers for over a decade.

Now, the company is partnering with Frontier Agriculture to broaden the Back to Farm wheat initiative.

This expansion aids farmers in shifting toward sustainable and regenerative agricultural methods.

In its first year, this project plans to cultivate 4,000 hectares using sustainable practices, yielding 36,000 tonnes of grain, equivalent to 50 million packs of McVitie's Original Digestives. Long-term goals include covering all the wheat needed for McVitie's products.

Offering support and expertise to farmers

Frontier provides expertise via its sustainable crop production team, assisting farmers with continuous support tailored to soil health, biodiversity and nutrient management.

The programme includes broad choices to allow farmers to adapt them to their specific farm conditions, ensuring flexibility for business success and land management goals.

Jennifer Parise, Director Of Procurement And Sustainability for Pladis UK&I, says: "Building a sustainable future is a shared responsibility for us all. We know growers are looking at regenerative farming, but it's a big ask for them to transition without additional support, especially given ongoing reductions in subsidies for farmers.

"By expanding our successful Back to Farm programme we hope that we'll be able to continue building partnerships with growers to better understand and help them address the challenges they face, as we all seek to make food production more sustainable."

Farmers appreciate the initiative amid weather challenges

The move from Pladis has been welcomed by growers such as Will Waterer, who grows wheat on his family farm in Essex.

"We've been looking at sustainable farming methods for a while, as many farmers have," he says.

"This programme gives us the confidence to expand our activity and the flexibility to experiment more on farm with more regenerative farming practices. Without these types of support from companies like pladis I think many farmers will struggle as the volatility in weather continues to impact harvests."

Frontier highlights the initiative's value as it connects the supply chain, rewarding growers for their efforts, aiding all parties in achieving sustainability targets and ensuring long-term high-quality food production.

Jim Knightbraid, Sustainability Manager for Frontier, adds: "Helping farmers to produce crops profitably, whilst also taking care to manage their soils and the wider farmed environment, is the key to building long-term, sustainable supply chains.

"We're delighted to be working with pladis and McVitie's to expand their Back to Farm programme, working with our network of UK growers to implement more sustainable and regenerative farming practices. Through this programme we can track, evidence and report on the positive environmental outcomes of farm practices, whilst rewarding farmers for their role in bringing those outcomes about."

Sustainability and resilience in farming

Private sector schemes like this are crucial for enduring sustainable food production.

Frontier, positioned within the arable supply chain, helps farmers capitalise on privately funded schemes like the one from pladis.

For Frontier's client farmers, it's about de-risking crop production and boosting resilience in farming systems to ensure productivity and profitability.

Jim continues: "For the farmers we work with, it's also about de-risking crop production, improving the resilience of their farming systems to safeguard productivity and profitability. All of that is vital if we are to secure the future of farming and sustainable food production. Support from businesses like pladis to help achieve this is hugely welcomed."

Pladis pursues sustainable sourcing across its global snacking portfolio by offering support to farmers adopting regenerative wheat farming techniques.

These practices work against climate change by sequestering CO2 in the soil, directly supporting pladis' Net Zero commitment by 2050.

McVitie's, using British wheat since 1839, reinforces its commitment to sustainability via these new regenerative practices, benefitting local agricultural communities and reducing its carbon footprint for the future.