The first regenerative agriculture project in the UK has been created, working with farms that grow mustard seeds and mint leaves used in Unilever’s Colman’s products.

This is the latest regenerative agriculture project from Unilever, building on global programmes that have seen the adoption of Unilever’s Regenerative Agriculture Principles in the US, France, Spain, Argentina and Italy. Globally, Unilever have an ambitious roadmap in place to invest in regenerative agriculture practices on 1.5 million hectares of land and forests by 2030.

Regenerative agriculture practices trialled will include the use of low carbon fertiliser, crop nutrition strategies, planting of cover and companion crops to reduce pesticides use, new digital water irrigation scheduling systems and reduced cultivation.

The ideas will initially be used across mustard and mint farms around Norwich and Peterborough over four-years, including mustard farms which have supplied Colman’s products for over 200 years, with the first crop of the programme due to be sown next month.

Michael Sly, mustard farmer, said, “As with all farmers, we are facing the challenges of climate change directly on our land. Alongside our English Mustard Growers Group, we’re on the journey with Unilever and NIAB to integrate regenerative agriculture practices that include strong measurement processes, to improve our yield, improve the soil health, and maintain the flavour of a fantastic product alongside that.”

As a member of Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform, last year Unilever joined forces with other FMCG companies and farmer cooperatives and supported the development of SAI’s new Regenerating Together global framework, which has globally aligned regenerative agriculture practices with an understanding that measurable outcomes are needed for a resilient food supply chain.

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