Frozen foods giant Nomad Foods and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have joined forces to identify agricultural solutions to the “triple challenge” of feeding a growing global population, while tackling the climate crisis and reversing biodiversity loss. 

On-pack communications for the initiative will be rolled out initially across Belgium, Portugal, Spain and the UK by this summer. The partnership will initially focus on two main projects centered around vegetable production.

On the one hand, the organizations are piloting a blueprint for landscapes that can increase food productivity through “nature-positive” farming approaches. On the other, they will be exploring interventions on the impact of farming on biodiversity, while finding new ways of increasing pollinator species, such as bees.

“Biodiversity loss is accelerating around the world,” stresses Stéfan Descheemaeker, CEO at Nomad Foods. “We want to help our consumers eat more sustainably by providing widespread access to great-tasting food that is better for people, better for the planet and affordable.”

“To support this, we are committed to sourcing 100 percent of our vegetables and potatoes through sustainable farming practices by 2025. Seventy-seven percent of our own grown vegetables are already verified as such.”

Scaling up sustainable farming
The food industry represents 30 percent of global energy consumption and the agricultural sector accounts for around 23 to 25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with livestock production being the highest emitter, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Nomad Foods stresses that it is continually building on its sustainable farming standards in line with global best practice standards.

The company uses the farming benchmarks of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI Platform) Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA).

Notably, 77 percent of Nomad Foods’ total vegetable and potato volumes are grown in line with minimum FSA Silver Level and Nomad Foods expects to have more than 70 percent of “own grown” vegetables at FSA Gold by the end of 2021.

Last October, Birds Eye became the first farm management group in the UK and the first in global frozen food to be verified as FSA Gold Level for sustainable food production.

In February, Iglo Germany was verified as FSA Gold for all “own grown” spinach, herbs and autumn vegetables. 

UK agri-food chain in focus
The UK government has enforced an Agriculture Bill, which in the future will be rewarding farmers and land managers in England with public money for “public goods” – such as better air and water quality, higher animal welfare standards, improved access to the countryside or measures to reduce flooding. 

In Britain, Nomad Foods is a partner in The Sustainable Landscapes Humber Project – a collaboration with Yorkshire Water, Future Foods Solutions and Hull and Teeside University, announced in 2020.

Over 40 farmers who grow peas for Birds Eye UK are planting a diverse range of cover crops to capture carbon, reduce flooding and improve soil health.

Trials show an increase in soil organic matter by up to 40 metric tons per hectare, which can sequester over four tons of atmospheric carbon per year. In just 90 days, the cover crop program removed sufficient carbon to make 400 families of four in the UK carbon neutral for a year. 

The program generated sufficient benefits to offset the impact of crop cultivation, making plowing a “net zero carbon operation.” The project is being repeated in 2021 by Nomad Foods’ pea growers and the company is now exploring how this might be replicated by wheat farmers, who provide the flour used in its Aunt Bessies range in the UK.

Tanya Steele, chief executive of WWF-UK, reiterates: “Our food system is one of the biggest drivers of climate change and nature loss, so it’s a system we simply must change.”