About Us
Our Businesses
Investors
Responsibility
Media
About Us
Our Businesses
Investors
Responsibility
Media
Our businesses depend on agricultural systems for the majority of the raw materials and ingredients used in our products. Global supply chains need to move towards sustainable farming and crop production, and not just sustainable land use, in order to meet a growing population’s need for food and clothing. We therefore recognise the need to support more sustainable farm management practices and address the most material biodiversity-related impacts, risks and opportunities.
A Jordans Farm Partnership farm in Hampshire, UK
We have a strong association with the UK agricultural sector. Globally, we are a significant purchaser of cotton, sugar beet, sugar cane, tea and cereals.
We expect our businesses to go further than legal compliance by continuously considering and implementing activities, voluntary commitments and internationally recognised management systems to reduce their environmental and social impacts and risks.
This encompasses the responsible stewardship of our environment in line with the following requirements as a minimum:
Our businesses support a wide range of social and environmental interventions at the agricultural and farm level. These involve a number of farm management models, including certified organic production, standards to promote wildlife biodiversity, engagement with smallholder growers in developing markets, and adoption of farm management systems built on driving more sustainable farm productivity.
Many of the farm management standards of our businesses align with the core principles of Integrated Farm Management (IFM). They require the incorporation of a range of management practices across a number of designated criteria to improve overall supply chain efficiency and drive more sustainable farm productivity. Requirements typically include the safe handling of agrochemicals, improving soil structure and land management practices to sustain habitats for wildlife biodiversity.
While it is not possible for our businesses to intervene in every farm supply chain linked to our products, collectively we support many farm-focused intervention programmes. The objective of these is to shape management practices to promote systemic commercial, social and environmental resilience for the long term. Science, technology and data are essential to achieving this aim.
ABF Sugar promotes more sustainable farming practices across both sugar beet and sugar cane production, implementing regenerative agriculture approaches in some of its operations. It works with growers across its agricultural supply chains to support access to the necessary expertise for successful sugar cultivation, increasing the resilience of its value chain.
Some of our Grocery businesses source cereals, including wheat, oats and rye, from UK farmers. All the UK wheat sourced by Allied Mills is Red Tractor / TASCC (Trade Assurance Scheme for Combinable Crops) assured, while Jordans Cereals sources its grains through the Jordans Farm Partnership, which offers farmers a premium for their produce in exchange for their commitment to sustainable land management practices. Another Grocery business, Westmill, a leading supplier of food products to the Indian, Chinese and Thai foodservice sectors within the UK, aims to promote the standards of the Sustainable Rice Platform, a multi-stakeholder partnership set up by the United Nations Environment Programme, of which Westmill is a founding member. The UN Sustainable Rice Platform Standard, for example, requires Alternate Wet and Dry farm management techniques to reduce water use and GHG emissions in the rice sector.
Primark launched its Primark Cotton Project in 2013 which aims to equip smallholder farmers with essential knowledge and skills to drive the adoption of more sustainable agriculture practices. These include techniques to improve yields, reduce chemical inputs such as pesticides and fertilisers, and improve farmer incomes. As at the end of July 2024, 309,394 farmers have received training through the Primark Cotton Project.
Across the Group we support the responsible use of precision science and technology to maximise efficiency, reduce GHG emissions and limit biodiversity losses while maintaining commercially productive agricultural outputs. For example, British Sugar is testing the use of autonomous robots to improve sugar beet cultivation. The Robotti robot is being deployed for planting and weeding crops, with the aim to help reduce reliance on chemical treatments, increase yields and enhance quality. British Sugar has also invested in a collaborative project with agriculture biotechnology company Tropic to explore how gene editing can be used to specifically target yellowing viruses.
To address commodity-specific environmental risks, for example in the supply chains for tea, soy and palm oil, several of our businesses use third-party certifications. Certifications from organisations such as the Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade and the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) support responsible sourcing practices and help reduce potential impacts on biodiversity and forests.
Our businesses supply a range of products and services to the agricultural sector that facilitate efficient farm management and regenerative approaches, such as cover cropping to improve soil structure and water retention. AB Agri is the UK’s largest supplier of animal feed and nutrition products to the dairy, poultry and pig sectors, providing a range of technology and consultancy services to promote efficiency.
Supporting customers in achieving more sustainable farm ecosystems has become an essential part of AB Agri’s service offering. Its ‘Farm Footprints’ on-farm carbon footprint assessment service, launched in 2007, helps major international food producers to measure their supply chain emissions. Additionally, AB Agri’s dairy consultancy business, Kite Consulting, provides practical guidance on emissions reduction and nutrient conservation to individual farm operations.
Some of our businesses source commodities that are linked with potential risks related to deforestation and biodiversity loss, such as palm oil. ABF has been a member of the RSPO since 2010. We are committed to increasing our use of sustainably sourced palm oil and for 100% of our palm-related ingredients to be sourced through one of the RSPO’s four recognised supply chain models.
One of our AB Agri consultants with a client farmer on their farm in Somerset, UK
AB Agri is a division in which the risk of deforestation is particularly material, as the business uses palm oil and soy for its animal feed products. AB Agri has committed that all palm oil and soya usage will be certificated by 2025, supporting zero deforestation responsible sourcing schemes. In the reporting year, 100% of AB Agri’s palm oil was RSPO certified using a combination of book and claim and mass balance. For the reporting year, 74% of the soya products AB Agri bought worldwide were certificated to schemes meeting the European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation (FEFAC) benchmark for responsibly sourced soya.
AB Agri is an active member of the FEFAC Sustainability Committee (which introduced soya sourcing guidelines in 2015), the Agricultural Industries Confederation Sustainability Committee and the UK Roundtable on Sustainable Soy, all of whom are working on achieving supply chain solutions.
Primark uses man-made cellulosic fibres such as viscose, as well as natural raw materials such as cotton, to make its products. The business also purchases packaging, paper and solid wood, and published its policy for the responsible sourcing of wood and wood-derived fibres in 2022.
A number of our businesses will be impacted by the upcoming EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Those in scope of this regulation are working to address the new requirements, including by working with external bodies, suppliers and customers.
At ABF, we believe in the importance of maintaining appropriate animal health and welfare standards, and the Animal Health and Welfare Position Statement sets out how we expect our businesses to approach this issue.
Within the ABF Group, only AB Agri in Europe and DON in Australia have direct involvement with the farming of animals. Where the farming of animals is or may become relevant to any of our businesses, or when any of them conduct animal feed trials1, we expect their approach to be governed by policies or procedures which are guided by internationally recognised standards such as the Five Domains Model of animal welfare assessment. Many of our businesses purchase ingredients derived from animals, such as eggs and dairy products, or materials derived from animals, such as leather and wool. We expect our businesses to develop their own appropriate animal health and welfare sourcing standards and requirements in relation to the ingredients and materials they source, and to require their suppliers and representatives to comply with those standards and requirements. For more information, find our Animal Health and Welfare Position Statement here.
The small number of our businesses that purchase eggs are either already sourcing from cage-free hens or have a cage-free commitment in progress. In 2022 we made a commitment that by 2025, all our businesses that purchase eggs will be cage-free, except those in Brazil, which will be cage-free by 2028. Learn more about our commitment on cage-free eggs.
1. Animal feed trials refers to nutritional evaluation trials with animals, based on what an animal would be expected to experience either in its natural environment or in a typical domestic or farmed situation.
