Some 3.6m tonnes of carbon could be saved by 2030 if every operator across the UK hospitality and brewing sector switched to regenerative flour and barley.
That’s the view of not-for-profit Zero Carbon Forum and the regenerative farming and food business, Wildfarmed. That’s equivalent to cancelling more than 5.5m one-way flights between London and New York.
Thirty-five per cent of the UK’s emissions come from the food and drink sector. Zero Carbon Forum’s benchmark data found that, within that, flour and barley production is responsible for 2.5% of the hospitality and brewing sectors’ emissions. This means the move to flour produced through regenerative farming could play a critical role in helping the food and drink sector meet the demands of a 1.5ºC world.
Regenerative farming is all about restoring soil health by growing crops alongside companion crops, not adding pesticides to the growing crop, integrating livestock, and using observation and nutrition. This all puts more life-giving nutrients back into the soil and wheat while boosting biodiversity.
Wildfarmed, founded in 2018, has developed a community of more than 600 farmers, restaurants, and bakeries across the UK. These are working together with leading retailers and brands, such as Waitrose, M&S, and ASK.
“The hospitality industry uses an enormous amount of flour, made mostly by conventional farming,” said Wildfarmed co-founder Edd Lees.
“But a switch to regen farming means a switch to less carbon, enabling both farmers and hospitality businesses to be part of a significant environmental change.
“There are early adopters in this sector leading the charge, experiencing how a regenerative supply chain significantly reduces their environmental impact and offers customers a better end product. Together, we can invest in the future of UK soil and, in turn, work towards the UK’s sustainability targets.”
Bob Gordon, director of the Zero Carbon Forum, added: “If businesses source ingredients from regenerative farms, we will also see more resilient supply chains able to respond to extreme weather events, more biodiversity, and lower carbon emissions from farming.”
