Successful sustainability strategies in the food and drink industry

PRIMROSE ORGANIC CENTRE CASE STUDY

Question 1:

What are you doing to make your business more sustainable?

Answer:

a) We nurture the soil to create a highly sustainable fertility, through adding much organic matter, which holds onto the minerals and makes them available to plants. Also we keep the soil covered during the winter to prevent losses mainly with green manure and we adopt minimal cultivation which helps to maintain the soil structure and the presence of the highly beneficial mycorrhyzal fungi.

b) We use minimal fossil fuels in both production, through having people working the land and in distribution since 85% of produce is sold within 5 miles and all within 15 miles. We must have one of the shortest supply chains as much produce is sold within hours of harvesting and most within 24hours.

c) We use renewable technologies with solar hot water panels for the house and B&B and a biomass log boiler and source energy from the Good Energy Company.

d) The food production system operates in beautiful harmony with nature, using natures beneficial resources and the half acre forest garden, which contains a 100 varieties of fruit and nut trees, is a perfect example of a sustainable low input system. Also we have a number of carbon dioxide sinks on the farm that easily offset the small amount of fossil fuel consumed.

d) The farm contains incredibly high biodiversity which creates a very resilient system, which will be much better able to withstand the negative effects of climate change compared with more industrialised monocultures.

e) We minimise packaging and use recycled paper and materials when possible.

f) In our system there is very little wastage and production is maximised. It is now coming to light that at least 50% of food grown in the UK is wasted post harvest and so twice as much food is being grown as that which is consumed and this is highly unsustainable.

Question 2:

How can your sustainability efforts stand out from the crowd – what are you doing better/differently to other food and drink companies?

Answer:

Primrose centre is an exemplary model of a system that produces incredible abundance of food from a small area of land, sustainably grown with an extremely low carbon footprint and very high biodiversity, which helps to create the beautiful positive relationship with nature. The way we grow our food that creates a highly sustainable soil fertility produces food with flavours that far surpass that of our competitors. Within the array of 9 True Taste Awards won in 2 years, one was a comendation from the judges as recognition of Primrose Organic Centre's commitment to sustainable development. The commercial gardens at Primrose have been likened to the Sustainable food systems in and around the towns and cities in Cuba and so offers a blueprint for creating greater future food security for our cities.

Dr Paul Benham

Holistic Farmer, Primrose Earth Centre & Project Director, Centre for Sustainable Food