M&S to Debut UK's First Autonomously Farmed Parsnips
M&S will be the first UK food retailer to sell lower-carbon parsnips, grown using autonomous technology. In partnership with their supplier, Huntapac, M&S aims to help farmers lower their environmental impact, improve crop quality and increase yields.
M&S partners with Huntapac to revolutionise farming with autonomous technology, reducing Scope 3 emissions
M&S is introducing autonomous farming for parsnips, as a part of its commitment to reducing Scope 3 emissions in its supply chain.
The initiative falls under the Scope 3 Category 1 "Purchased goods and services", including all upstream emissions from the production of products and services acquired by the company.
Using drones and robots, M&S is reshaping how its produce is grown, to create a lower carbon footprint and healthier crops. Through autonomous methods, tasks like planting, weeding and monitoring are handled by machines, reducing the need for heavy machinery and slashing carbon emissions.
M&S and Huntapac reduce farming emissions by 46% with autonomous technology and green fertiliser
M&S and Huntapac have integrated a minimum tillage approach, which keeps carbon locked in the soil. In addition, they’re using a green fertiliser that converts nitrogen dioxide into nitrogen, which plants can use during photosynthesis. Early reports show a 46% cut in emissions compared to conventional farming.
“Our 40-year relationship with M&S has gone from strength to strength and we couldn’t have done this project without the Plan A Accelerator Fund," said Stephen Shields, Technical & Sustainability Director at Huntapac. "Not only are we seeing a reduction of the carbon impact but more parsnips at higher quality, due to us being able to plant the seeds despite bad weather earlier this year. This would have a fantastic impact on our business at scale and we’re aiming to deliver multiple fields farmed this way for next season.”
These innovations don’t stop with reducing carbon. Drones and AI are also boosting crop quality, as the trial fields produced 16% more top-quality parsnips than other fields.
When it comes to unpredictable weather, autonomous technology steps up where traditional methods fall short. After a wet start to the year, the smart machines were still able to plant parsnips, while conventional equipment would have been literally stuck in the mud.
“Innovation is at the heart of M&S Food and our Plan A Accelerator Fund offers us the opportunity to tap into the entrepreneurial spirit of our suppliers," added Andrew Clappen, Technical Director at M&S Food. "Projects like this help us move towards being a Net Zero business across all our operations and entire supply chain by 2040, whilst focussing on the quality of produce that M&S is famous for.
"Agriculture is one of our biggest contributors to emissions, so it’s important that we find new lower impact farming methods. Trialling new ways to support our Plan A roadmap to Net Zero is an important step on the journey and this project has helped deliver more parsnips at M&S quality, a carbon reduction and brings together new technologies which if adopted more widely would create more highly skilled jobs and attract new talent into the sector.”
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