Weetabix is supporting its farmers to produce net zero wheat while enhancing soil quality, improving crop resilience and managing climate change risks.
The food producer formed ‘Weetabix Growers Group’ in 2010, a collective of farmers who are focused on environmentally-friendly procedures.
Over the past year, 4 million acres of British countryside have been farmed by the Growers Group to produce 75,000 tonnes of Weetabix wheat.
Additionally, Weetabix has been working with some of those farmers to repeat the Carbon Footprint study it undertook in 2022 to capture baseline data to help track progress on its roadmap to measure and reduce carbon emissions, with the aim of producing net zero wheat.
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Weetabix has also been working with a small pioneering group of farmers to evaluate new carbon reduction technologies, including regenerative agriculture, precision nitrogen applications and soil assessments.
The group is focused on optimising the amount of nitrogen fertiliser applied to wheat and assessing how carbon can be absorbed rather than released through their farming methods, a process known as sequestration.
These two areas present the biggest opportunity for net greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Reducing nitrogen application also helps improve water quality and biodiversity.
Weetabix head of quality and food safety Peter Chandley said: “Working with our growers to help them understand how to reduce nitrogen inputs to wheat production and assessing the potential for carbon sequestration present the biggest opportunities for emissions reductions, as well as water quality and biodiversity improvements.”
