CARGILL and Nestlé UK & Ireland have launched their latest regenerative agriculture initiative, a UK supply chain trial, to assess whether cocoa shells from a confectionery site in York could be used to create a low carbon fertiliser.
This two-year trial is designed to evaluate the fertiliser’s performance on crop production, soil health and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. If successful, up to 7,000 tonnes of low carbon fertiliser could be produced and offered to farmers in Nestlé’s UK wheat supply chain. This amount of fertiliser equates to around 25% of Nestlé UK’s total fertiliser use for wheat.
The production and use of conventional fertiliser accounts for approximately 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and more than half of the carbon footprint of wheat grown in the UK is related to fertiliser use.
Recycling valuable nutrients from waste streams within the food system provides a promising opportunity to create a lower emissions supply chain. Scaling up low carbon fertiliser production in the UK can provide farmers with a more sustainable product at a reliable price.
The cocoa shells are supplied by Cargill, which processes the cocoa at the York facility. A trial volume of cocoa shell has been processed and pelletised by Swindon-based CCm Technologies.
The trials, which were designed and are being overseen by York-based Fera Science Ltd, are currently taking place on arable farms in Suffolk and Northamptonshire. They are designed to investigate the performance of the fertiliser in terms of wheat yield and quality. They will also assess the impacts on soil biodiversity and GHG emissions in comparison to conventional products applied on the same farms.
For all companies involved, turning cocoa shells into a lower carbon fertiliser embodies their commitment to innovation, collaboration and creating a more sustainable supply chain. Nestlé has also committed to sourcing 50% of its key ingredients from regenerative agricultural methods by 2030.
“Farmers often find themselves to be among the first groups to be exposed to global issues, and these risks are then borne by the food system we all depend upon. We have to find ways to build more resilience into the system and optimising our use of natural resources is a critical part of this,” said Matt Ryan, Regeneration Lead at Nestle UK & Ireland.
“This project is a small, but very meaningful step towards a net zero future, where farmers, local enterprises, and nature all stand to benefit,” added Ryan.
Richard Ling, Farm Manager at Rookery Farm, Wortham in Norfolk, who supplies wheat to Nestlé Purina, said: “We have now finished harvesting and we’ve successfully grown a Winter wheat crop using this new fertiliser. We’ve compared two parts of the field, one which used the cocoa shell fertiliser, and one which used with the conventional fertiliser, and there is no significant difference in the yield so we can see that it works!
“We are really reassured with the results and are looking at running further trials. It’s a step change to be able to use a fertiliser made from a waste stream and see the same results as using a conventional product.
“It’s an exciting and promising time and we are pleased to be taking part in these trials to help reduce the carbon emissions from our farming.”