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About Us
Our Businesses
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AB Agri’s ambition is to create workplaces where every colleague can develop and succeed. Its action is focused on diversity and inclusion, safety and wellbeing and talent development.
A laboratory team leader at National Milk Records, Four Ashes, UK
AB Agri provides a range of initiatives to support skills development, career progression and talent development across the business. Alongside development opportunities, the business continues to promote an inclusive working environment through a range of people and culture initiatives.
AB Agri manages health and safety through its Target Zero programme, which also covers feed safety, site environmental compliance and security.
AB Agri has an internal Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy that sets expectations across its global operations. A dedicated group of health, safety and environment (‘HSE’) leads provide strategic oversight and support consistent implementation of protocols across the division. Each business unit operates a continuous improvement roadmap focused on three pillars: risk reduction, training and competence development, and the reinforcement of a positive safety culture.
In 2026, the Target Zero leadership training programme continued to be implemented across the division, with a focus on leading by example, involvement, communication, positive reinforcement and reward. In addition, over 200 senior managers have completed dedicated leadership expectations training.
AB Agri has also continued to expand the use of technology to support health and safety. Building on a successful pilot, an AI-powered camera system to support the identification of potential hazards and create safer working environments has been expanded to additional sites. The system provides data-driven insights that support risk identification and preventive action.
The division is targeting incident reduction through a severity-focused approach. It assesses all incidents, near misses and learning opportunities according to their potential severity to prioritise proactive prevention measures. Information gathered through this process supports risk reduction roadmaps and monitoring of safety performance. Investigative capability has been further strengthened through Incident Cause Analysis Method root-cause investigation training for several HSE and site leadership team members. In 2026, over 5,300 e-learning training modules were completed, while Safety Learning Opportunity reporting reached a record high with over 3,700 raised across the division. This includes the introduction of positive safety learning opportunities, which recognise colleagues observed doing something exceptionally well and reinforce a culture of positive recognition alongside hazard reporting.
AB Agri made significant progress in its safety performance, with the number of employee on-site Lost Time Injuries (LTI) reducing from 16 in 2025 to 13, resulting in an employee on-site LTI rate of 0.42%. One contractor also experienced an on-site LTI in 2026. All incidents were in the lowest severity category, with full recovery. Working days lost reduced significantly compared to the prior year.
AB Agri’s safety culture is anchored in the Take 2 approach, which empowers every individual to pause and reflect for two minutes before any task begins, based on the principle that all incidents and injuries are preventable. This was reinforced through AB Agri’s 2026 World Health & Safety Day, which focused on driving for work safety and was supported by the launch of a new driving for work risk management framework. Operations across the business paused to conduct safety briefings and toolbox talks, engaging colleagues with driver risk awareness and training.
Continued focus has been placed on critical-to-life risk standards, with awareness sessions delivered globally and enhanced internal audit processes ensuring all protocols align with the Target Zero commitment.
AB Agri is committed to creating a healthy working environment and supporting the wellbeing of colleagues across the business. Each year we participate in World Wellbeing Week, helping to raise awareness of the importance of physical, mental and social wellbeing both inside and outside of work. In 2026 colleagues from around the world took part in a range of activities including walks, meditation sessions, resilience talks and skills-sharing events. Many of our businesses also used the week to launch fundraising activities in support of our charity partner, recognising the strong connection between doing good and feeling good that emerged through colleague feedback. This approach has helped build momentum beyond a single week, encouraging participation in a variety of physical and social fundraising activities to keep wellbeing front of mind throughout 2026.
A number of services are in place to help colleagues balance work and family commitments, manage stress and enjoy a healthier lifestyle. These include:
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employees | 11 | 15 | 9 | 16 | 13 |
| Employee rate | 0.39% | 0.53% | 0.50% | 0.51% | 0.42% |
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employees | 2,801 | 3,052 | 3,446 | 3,380 | 3,186 |
| Percentage of Women | 32% | 34% | 36% | 36% | 37% |
AB Agri supports diversity, equity and inclusion through its ‘This is Me’ inclusion campaign, supported by internal policies, targeted programmes, leadership initiatives and inclusive recruitment practices.
AB Agri has established several employee network groups, such as LGBTQIA+, Parents and Carers, Women at AB Agri, Fusion Culture, Enable (Disability Inclusion) as well as support groups covering menopause and men as carers. Each group has a sponsor from the senior leadership team and the leads for each group meet regularly with the AB Agri Chief Executive and the AB Agri Group People and Performance Director to discuss challenges, advocate for underrepresented groups and seek support.
At the beginning of 2026, these network groups started working together as a ‘Network of Networks’ creating and delivering joint awareness sessions and other initiatives, to recognise the intersectionality of some of the groups. As a result, the network has gained over 470 additional members with posts viewed more than 100,000 times on its Viva Engage employee community platform.
AB Agri focuses on attracting, developing and retaining a diverse workforce. Senior leaders embed DEI into business strategy and all have an inclusion measure in their objectives. Line managers are equipped with toolkits to promote diversity, lead inclusive conversations and provide support. In 2026, the division provided access for all leaders to Onvero, a not-for-profit organisation that helps employers build diverse teams and inclusive cultures through podcasts, white papers, case studies and videos.
The division has maintained a GB gender pay gap below 2% (1.1% in 2025) for the fifth year. In line with the commitment to fair and equal pay, the division voluntarily reported their GB ethnicity pay gap at 0.3% as of April 2025.
AB Agri collaborates with the Armed Forces Careers Transition Service to reach military personnel transitioning to civilian careers, with STEM Women to engage female talent in science and engineering fields, and with Job Centre Plus to support individuals facing barriers to employment, including older workers and those with disabilities.
Recruitment outcomes have seen increased applications, interviews and offer acceptance rates among women and individuals with disabilities. AB Agri prioritises fair and inclusive recruitment practices to ensure a diverse talent pool of candidates from a variety of sources, enabling the business to find the best candidate for each role. The division actively promotes gender balance when recruiting and selecting senior roles across all its businesses by encouraging a balanced shortlist of male and female candidates. It also uses CV anonymising practices to mitigate unconscious bias.
Globally, all recruitment agencies working with AB Agri are required to sign an agreement confirming their adherence to the Group Supplier Code of Conduct. This agreement also references AB Agri’s Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Dignity at Work Policy.
Attracting talent is an industry-wide challenge for agriculture, with a need to compete for specialist skills in areas such as technology, marketing, engineering and data insights. In response to this challenge, AB Agri has established four key focus areas aligned to its business strategy:
AB Agri provides a range of development initiatives to support career progression and cultivate a deeper talent pool. Potential senior leader successors are offered career conversations with their executive and people leads to identify individual requirements and support progression. The Shadow Board initiative readies potential board members for the next steps in their career by working together to address business challenges.
In 2026, 650 colleagues participated across 74 development workshops. These were delivered through a combination of virtual and in-person sessions, supported by e-learning programmes available in five languages.
A lab colleague at AB Vista in Ystrad Mynach, Wales
AB Agri offers levy-funded apprenticeships for employees who reside in England, giving colleagues the opportunity to study for a formal qualification and support their development and potential career progression.
AB Agri also supports the next generation of food and farming talent. This includes funding for PhD students by AB Vista, its feed additives technology business.
AB Agri engages with colleagues through a range of channels designed to gather feedback, share information and strengthen collaboration across the division. The quarterly Engagement survey, Pulse, allows colleagues to provide feedback, ideas and suggestions on subjects such as wellbeing, inclusion, work-life balance and trust in leadership. Results are reviewed by line managers and People and Performance teams, with toolkits available to support team discussions and action planning. Intranets, town halls and internal publications are used to communicate business updates and share key initiatives, while business- led conferences and events are used to launch initiatives and drive connections. In addition, the annual awards event, RoadRunner, engages colleagues on what excellence looks like within AB Agri.
