Morrissons invests in it’s own farm to develop British farming

Morrisons, one of Britains largest food retailers, is joining up with one of The Prince of Waless charities to develop a blueprint for profitable and sustainable British farming at its farm in Ayrshire, Scotland.

The Morrisons Farm at Dumfries House, Ayrshire will become the home of the retailers applied research into farming sustainability. Morrisons is working with British farmers and leading scientists to develop new methods that could improve farmers profits and protect the rural environment.

Speaking at a Conference with HRH The Prince of Wales and the First Minister of Scotland, Dalton Philips, Chief Executive of Morrisons said: We want to help British farmers face the challenge of feeding the growing population and maintaining the commercial and environmental health of the sector against a backdrop of increasing market volatility.

We have set ourselves the considerable challenge of making the Morrisons Farm both commercially and environmentally sustainable  and by sharing whatever we learn with our fellow farmers theres real potential to benefit their own farm businesses.

At the heart of the project is a knowledge transfer programme so that information can be shared with farmers around the country. The ultimate aim is to improve the commercial and environmental health of British farming and secure the supply of sustainable, nutritious and affordable food for all.

Morrisons and research partners such as the Scottish Agricultural College are developing new approaches to making farms more efficient such as:

• A project that aims to breed livestock for improved reproductive rates and more efficient digestion of feed.
• Using carbon footprinting research to drive the efficiency of the farm.
• Developing a series of sustainability measures to show whether improved farming productivity can be achieved without harming the environment a whole farm approach.

These indicators will help farmers make decisions that are right for their farm business and the environment based on a balanced scorecard of financial and environmental indicators.

These projects also aim to achieve higher quality products for Morrisons customers.

Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland, said: Morrisons is one of our largest food retailers and its decision to establish their first sustainable farm in Ayrshire will provide a welcome boost to the local economy and make a significant contribution to sustainable farming in Scotland.

Scotland has established a strong reputation for food and drink with some of the finest produce in the world. Working with the Scottish Agricultural College, Morrisons will pioneer new techniques to develop low carbon farming that protects our environment while producing high quality food that is also affordable.

I hope that Morrisons investment at Dumfries House will encourage more people to buy good quality, fresh, seasonal produce and build a legacy for Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink.

Morrisons continues to demonstrate a clear commitment to British farming and is the only major retailer to sell 100% fresh British meat in all its stores. In addition, Morrisons is the only supermarket to buy whole crop vegetables from British farmers.

The farming project at Dumfries House is a partnership between Morrisons and The Prince of Wales charity, The Great Steward of Scotlands Dumfries House Trust. Both have agreed a Statement of Principles about how the 1000 acre estate will be farmed and Morrisons will be investing more than 2 million over the next five years.

Morrisons vertical integration is its main difference in the food retailing sector it is the 2nd largest fresh food manufacturer in the UK.

1. About Morrisons: We are the UKs fourth largest food retailer with 425 stores and our business is mainly food and grocery the weekly shop. Uniquely we source and process most of the fresh food that we sell though our own manufacturing facilities, giving us close control over provenance and quality. We only sell 100% British fresh beef, lamb, pork and poultry and we have more people preparing more food in store than any other retailer including butchers, bakers and fishmongers. Every week, ten million customers pass through our doors and more than 130,000 colleagues across the business work hard each day to deliver great service to them. With competitive prices and hundreds of special offers, we are proud to save our customers money every day.

2.  The Morrisons Farm at Dumfries House is working with the Scottish Agricultural College to develop a series of farmer friendly indicators.  Potential indicators that can be applied to improve sustainability and productivity include:

AREA	INDICATOR
Business efficiency	Profit per acre
Food production capability	Kg produce per acre
Operational standards	Welfare indicators
	Water management
	Soil management
	Pasture management
Environment	Environmental plan
Carbon balance	Carbon use per kg of produce
Renewable resources	Kg of N, P and K per acre from renewable sources
Soil fertility	Annual measurements
Water quality	Annual measurements
Bio-diversity	Annual measurement of species