Biodiversity and sustainable agriculture

British Sugar produces a diverse range of sustainable products, from sugar to electricity and animal feed to biofuel. Each year, next to its Wissington sugar factory in the UK, the company grows over 80 million tomatoes, using waste combustion gases and heat from the factory’s combined heat and power plant (CHP) at its Cornerways Nursery.

Carbon dioxide from the CHP plant is pumped into the enormous glasshouse, encouraging plants to grow at twice the normal rate. The glasshouse is also home to over 5,000 bees which pollinate the plants naturally. The glasshouse is the size of ten large football pitches, so the rainwater from such a large roof is used as the main source of irrigation for the tomato plants.

Cornerways Nursery now supplies some 2% of the UK tomato market from a single site. British Sugar’s tomatoes are sold through the major retailers, food service suppliers and local businesses, including the Royal Estate at Sandringham. They hold the Red Tractor mark of accreditation, the British Retail Consortium Quality Scheme Approval, the Tesco Nature’s Choice Gold Supplier award and this year, British Sugar was delighted to learn that Assistant Nursery Manager, Paul Simmonds, had been awarded ‘Young Grower of the Year’, at the prestigious ‘Grower of the Year Awards 2010’, which celebrate the very best in UK production horticulture.

In 2008, British Sugar’s factory in York was closed as a result of EU Sugar Regime reform. After consultation with the Rural Payments Agency and the Environment Agency, an action plan was agreed and implemented for the decommissioning, demolition and reclamation of the site.

Careful consideration was given to species conservation and a site-specific ecological management plan was followed which ensured that wildlife has been protected. A disused railway siding was identified as a high-quality habitat for bees. To maintain this habitat, a protective barrier was installed to prevent damage to the bank during demolition and the woodland and scrub on the bank was managed to protect the habitat. British Sugar sought guidance from local groups concerned with specific species to assist in its work.

96% of all materials arising from decommissioning and demolition was recycled. The team segregated over 16,000 tonnes of scrap metal on site, before sending it to a recycling facility. This ensured that transport miles were minimised, reducing potential CO₂ emissions. In addition, over 70% of the rubble generated was recycled locally and used in the building of an extension to the University of York campus.

“Environmental considerations are at the heart of the development of our campus extension. Using materials reclaimed from British Sugar’s York site in the construction of our exciting new facilities has proven to be a highly effective local solution that has benefited the company, the University and the environment.”
Elizabeth Heaps, University of York, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Estates

As a result of EU Sugar Regime reform, the group closed a number of its sugar factories. One of these was Azucarera’s Guadalcacin factory near Cádiz, where the decommissioning process included a programme to turn the factory’s water purification ponds into a wetland habitat.

Working closely with the regional Wildlife Department and the Council of Environment, Azucarera’s plan involved extending an existing area of wetland that the company had developed more than five years previously, to cover 36 hectares. The development included not only a reservoir of over 40,000m³, but a bird-watching area and car park. The wetland development, which is already attracting significant numbers of birds, has also become an educational facility for the area’s schools.

Azucarera has invested more than £870,000 in the project which is due to be completed at the end of 2010.

The group uses a very small quantity of palm oil, accounting for approximately 0.06% of the total global annual supply, understood to be 45 million tonnes. A small volume of palm oil is used as part of an ingredient in some of our baking recipes as an alternative to hydrogenated fat, which we removed for health reasons.

Our businesses purchase palm oil primarily through independently owned processors, who source palm oil kernels and convert them into specific food ingredients. In light of the allegations made against the Sinar Mas Group by Greenpeace in 2009/10, we asked our suppliers not to source palm oil from this particular company unless it clearly demonstrates that it is not engaged in the illegal deforestation of conservation habitats.

Some of our businesses operate sustainable palm oil policies and are purchasing Certified Sustainable palm oil and Green Palm certificates. In 2010, we introduced a groupwide commitment that all of our businesses would use only Certified Sustainable palm oil, or Identity Preserved palm oil, by 2015 (provided that supply is available). We have also strengthened our existing representation at the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil with a view to promoting an increased supply of Certified Sustainable palm oil, together with the necessary processing facilities, by 2015.

Separately, Stratas Foods in the US, a joint venture between ourselves and Archer Daniels Midland, also purchases a small volume of palm oil. Stratas management is aware of the concerns as to its future sourcing of palm oil.

All crop-derived products and ingredients supplied by our businesses to the UK grocery trade are obtained from non-genetically modified sources where we have complete control of the supply chain. With other products involving ingredients where genetically modified varieties exist, our businesses have worked closely with approved third-party suppliers to secure future supply sourced from non-genetically modified, identity preserved material. The supply chain in this area is closely monitored to check compliance. All new ingredients are assessed for compliance with the above statements and it is our aim to meet any existing and future legislation on traceability and labelling.

We recognise the concerns of some sections of the public towards genetically modified ingredients in animal feed. However we must balance these concerns with our primary commitment to our customers to ensure the success, efficiency and competitiveness of UK livestock production. The group supplies a comprehensive range of feed materials, blended and compound animal feeds into all sectors of the market and offers its customers a wide range of high-quality, nutritious products.

Currently the only key feed materials used in compound and blended products which may originate from genetically modified crops, are those derived from soya and maize sourced from the major growing areas of North and South America. These are cleared by the EU and UK regulatory authorities. Feed materials such as molassed sugar beet feed, brewers’ grains, and groundnuts are not affected by this, as the crop from which they are derived has not been the subject of genetic modification.

We serve all sectors of the market, and are seeking to establish suitable sources of identity preserved maize and soya should our customers express a serious interest in this. It must be recognised, however, that the producers of these specified feed materials expect a significant price premium over non-specified feed materials, and furthermore the complexities of feed material transportation, storage and manufacturing a range of alternative feeds add to the cost of livestock feed.

We are confident that due to our purchasing scale, supplier relationships and mill configuration, we will be able to maintain these premiums at the lowest industry levels. This would be a similar situation as currently exists in the organic feeds market, a sector which we already service and where the customerbenefit of identity preservation attracts a price premium over standard feeds.