Environmental Leadership - FDF Award 2017
The food and drink community celebrated success on 21 September 2017 as the winners of the Food and Drink Federation Awards were announced.
PepsiCo UK - 50 in 5 project
PepsiCo UK's “50 in 5 project” aimed to halve the water and carbon used to grow
the potatoes that make Walkers crisps in water stressed areas. The project ran
from 2010 to 2016 and its goal was achieved by a coalition of experts and
academics from ADAS, the University of Cambridge, and the University of
Aberdeen
working alongside British potato farmers. They adopted innovative technology
and
farming techniques to manage the impact of climate change more effectively.
PepsiCo UK is the second biggest buyer of potatoes in the UK and has built
long-term relationships with its growers. In order to secure its future supply
chain
in the face of climate change, the company realised that collaboration for
sustainable farming was critical. A review of the Walkers supply chain found
that the
potato growing was a significant contributor to its carbon footprint.
In order to reach its water and carbon goals, the company partnered with experts
and academics to develop and implement pioneering sustainable farming tools to
measure water and carbon. iCrop is used to precisely measure soil moisture
levels
and thus use just the right amount of water, while the Cool Farm Tool measures
the carbon per tonne of raw potato. They worked with almost 100 potatoes
farmers
over the length of the project, helping to reduce use and emissions through
more
environmentally sustainable systems or alternatives.
These farmers have continued to use the technology even beyond the formal
collaboration and the tools that were developed are now available to farmers
free of
charge. Their other markets in Europe are also exploring how they can build on
what we learnt with this project, and the company is also considering how to
transfer this technology for other crops.
More information
2017 awards winners
Last reviewed: 21 Sep 2016