In a new partnership, Nestlé Purina PetCare Europe has worked with a group of farmers in Suffolk, UK, to finance nature-based solutions that improve biodiversity and regenerate the soil on their land, preserving their long-term food production. Actions like these can also help companies reach their climate goals, as nature can remove carbon from the atmosphere and build ecosystems that protect from climate impacts. Through the Landscape Enterprise Networks program, Nestlé connects businesses with farmers and land managers who need financing to implement nature-based solutions.
Pictured: Matt Ryan, Regeneration Lead, Nestlé UK and Ireland; Patrick Barker of Lodge Farm in Suffolk; Emma Keller, Head of Sustainability, Nestlé UK and Ireland.
Reducing emissions isn’t only about electrification and renewable energy. By preserving and restoring nature, we help it to continue to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, reducing the greenhouse effect that causes climate change. Strengthening nature also strengthens plants and animals in the surrounding ecosystems, which is important for water quality, flood risk mitigation, and the continued supply of crops as we continue to cultivate the soil.
There are many nature-based solutions that build environmental resilience and reduce emissions, but financing them can be a challenge. To help overcome this challenge, Nestlé has partnered with 3keel to launch the Landscape Enterprise Networks (LENs) program. The program encourages businesses from different sectors to work together to understand the risks and opportunities inherent in a specific landscape. After that, relevant nature-based interventions are identified that support the preservation of nature in that landscape, and the businesses are connected to farmers and land managers who can implement them. The businesses get an opportunity to support environmental resilience as part of their long-term risk management, while the local actors get financing for activities that support their profession in the long term, making this a win-win. As an example from 2023, Nestlé Purina PetCare Europe has collaborated with a group of farmers who grow wheat for cereals and pet food on 5,500 hectares of land in East Anglia, United Kingdom. The group of farmers, calling themselves the High Suffolk Farm Cluster, wanted to regenerate their land and protect biodiversity to improve resilience in the face of climate change impacts and secure their long-term food production. Through the LENs program, the farmers were provided a coherent way to get funding for their activities, collecting proposals from multiple businesses in different sectors into a single offer. Meanwhile, the businesses were offered an efficient opportunity to support nature-based solutions that help them reach their sustainability goals. This partnership allowed the farmers to not only employ more regenerative practices but also improve biodiversity through hedgerow planting and to make a comprehensive hedgerow survey of the entire project area. Other interventions to preserve biodiversity were deploying locally made bird boxes to help bird populations make it through winter, making the farms more habitable for bees, and protecting a total of 331 hectares of woodland and 220 hectares of permanent grassland.
Any support must be “farmer-led, and with people at the heart”, highlights Matt Ryan, Regeneration Lead at Nestlé UK and Ireland. “Our involvement in this, and other farm clusters, provides vital financial and communications support. We are determined to assist farmers to not only continue producing high-quality food, but also help them to improve on-farm biodiversity and deliver positive environmental outcomes for the wider landscape.”
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Collaborations like this between companies and farmers are essential for promoting sustainable agriculture and biodiversity conservation.
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This partnership exemplifies the power of collective action in addressing climate change and promoting sustainable land management practices. Let's celebrate and support initiatives like these that prioritize people and planet!
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This is a great demonstration on commitment to sustainability and also recognizing the role farmers play
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@mary_dosarah it also depicts the importance of having all key players onboard
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Amazing. Such a commitment to sustainability is very important and moreso for land owners
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@rukia_ahmed_abdi When we focus on sustainability, the entire world benefits.
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This is amazing we lead by example
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This is a great demonstration on a commitment to sustainability, also recognizing the role farmers play in stewarding lands. By financing nature based solutions and regenerative practices, the partnership supports long-term food production and contributes to biodiversity conservation
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Land owners have such an important role to play in the climate transition, so I am happy to see companies taking more steps to support them in doing so!