Big businesses unite to launch sustainable farming pilot

A group of food, finance and insurance companies including McDonald’s, McCain, Lloyds Bank and Waitrose have come together as members of the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) to launch a new farming pilot project in the UK.

‘Routes to Regen’ has been created to demonstrate how regenerative farming can be made into a more attractive business proposition for UK farmers when supported by cross-sector collaboration.

The project, which will take place in the east of England throughout 2025, aims to address the environmental challenges posed by the global food system, which is responsible for approximately 30 per cent of human-produced greenhouse gas emissions and remains the biggest driver of nature loss.

While the benefits of regenerative farming are well established, research by the SMI’s Agribusiness Hub has found that economic risk and a fragmented support system often deter farmers from making the transition.

This project will see leading food and finance businesses including McCain, McDonald’s, Lloyds Banking Group, Waitrose & Partners, NatWest, Barclays, Aon, Tokio Marine Kiln and Lloyd’s turn insights from this research into action.

It aims to demonstrate a united approach in tackling barriers to transition by consolidating and simplifying support mechanisms into a clear and accessible framework for farmers, alongside expert support to help farmers select the best solutions for their unique business.

The project will be programme-managed by The Royal Countryside Fund, with on-farm advice from Ceres Rural, and will provide participating farmers with a ‘menu’ of support such as:

• Financial support: Awareness of the discounted capital available, business planning advice, opportunities to supply rotational crops, discounted seeds for cover crops and pollinators, weather insurance, and advice to make best use of public funding schemes;
• Technical support: Research and trial insights, connections to local livestock farmers, assistance with measurement/data collection such as discounted soil sampling;
• Peer-to-Peer support: Opportunities to attend demonstration days and knowledge sharing events.

By taking a whole-farm approach, the programme aims to reduce risk for the farmer, increase adoption rates, and make regenerative agriculture a more viable and attractive choice for farmers.

The support options have been provided by the SMI members leading the work alongside other companies and initiatives operating in the region including ADM, British Sugar, Burgess Farms, Cranswick plc, Farm Carbon Toolkit, Frontier, Landscape Enterprise Networks (LENs), Muntons, North Farm Livestock, Soil Association Exchange, Sustainable Food Trust and Wildfarmed.

The project will also test SAI Platform’s recently developed Regenerating Together Framework, which offers a globally aligned definition and farmer-centric approach for regenerative agriculture, as the basis for its measurement and evaluation.

The group intends to showcase learning from the project to other organisations aiming to accelerate regenerative farming around the world, with ambitions for it to be replicated in other regions, with more support for farmers added. A key area of opportunity will be leveraging the SMI’s network of over 250 CEOs globally, to unite the food, finance, and insurance sectors, facilitating the essential collaboration needed.

Jennifer Jordan-Saifi, CEO of the Sustainable Markets Initiative, said: “The Routes to Regen project builds on the significant work undertaken by the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Agribusiness Hub that identified that financial risk and a fragmented support system were key barriers to the adoption of regenerative farming practices.

“It exemplifies the power of cross-sector collaboration that the SMI is uniquely positioned to facilitate and aims to demonstrate a new model for how industries can unite to drive sustainable change on a global scale.”