Tesco boss Ashwin Prasad has said farmers need help to adopt low-carbon fertilisers at scale.
The CEO of the UK’s largest retailer said they could play an important role in reducing emissions, helping farmers weather supply chain shocks and strengthening food security.
According to Tesco, trials at its low-carbon concept farm in Lincolnshire showed low-carbon fertilisers could produce comparable yields, while delivering a lower environmental impact and without a reduction in quality.
The retailer’s main potato supplier, Branston, managed to harvest 500 tonnes of potatoes through a combination of low-carbon growing techniques (including the use of low-carbon fertiliser) and recorded a 50% reduction in carbon emissions.
The comments come as AHDB figures show fertiliser prices have risen between 13% and 36% across a range of fertiliser products since the start of the Iran war.
“Too often promising technologies struggle to move from trial to everyday use on farms,” Prasad said. “Low-carbon fertilisers are a clear example.
“They have real potential to reduce environmental impact, strengthen the resilience of UK food production, and keep a reliable supply of British products on our shelves, but scaling them will require greater availability, clarity on price and the confidence that farmers can plan their use over the long term.”
Prasad also said Tesco had relaunched its worldwide farming innovation challenge, the ‘Tesco Agri-Tech Challenge’. The competition is designed to find startups and innovators that can provide practical solutions to help farmers improve the sustainability, resilience and productivity of their operations.
Applications are open until 3 July. Winners will have the opportunity to work with Tesco and its supplier partners, including trials on real supplier farms, and a year’s Agri-TechE membership.
“We want to share what we have learned from our work so far on projects such as our low-carbon concept farm, and help shape the conditions needed for wider adoption,” Prasad added. “That’s also why we’re pleased to be running the Tesco Agri-tech Challenge to help find the promising innovations that will help shield farmers from the supply shocks of tomorrow.”
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