Tesco completes the biggest environmental standard roll-out in the UK with the LEAF Marque certification of all fruit and vegetable producers.

Tesco completes the biggest environmental standard roll-out in the UK with the LEAF Marque certification of all fruit and vegetable producers.

Tesco has announced the completion of its historic LEAF Marque certification roll-out. All of its UK fruit and vegetable growers are now LEAF Marque certified, adhering to strict environmental standards and striving for continuous whole-farm improvement in areas such as climate resilience, biodiversity, soil health, greenhouse gas emissions, and deforestation.

Growers are urged by LEAF Marque to continually raise important ecological benchmarks on their property. The LEAF Marque Standard helps producers make further advancements by identifying goal areas by comparing growers’ progress to practises linked to nature, climate, society, and economy.

Tesco has now begun the certification procedure for the remainder of its 8,000 global growers, with a goal of finishing the transition by 2025.

In order to produce more sustainable, climate-positive farming, farms must adopt a whole business approach, according to the LEAF Marque programme, which is run by the international farming organisation LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming).

For the past ten years, Stourgarden, a longtime supplier of onions to Tesco and located in the Stour Valley near the boundary of Essex and Suffolk, has been LEAF Marque certified. The results of the company’s attempts to increase biodiversity are currently having a positive impact. The conversion of some fields to permanent grazing has increased the number of barn owls that nest nearby and forage for field mice, shrews, and voles in the grasslands.

“We’re thrilled to have finished the roll-out of LEAF Marque certification across all our UK grown fruit and vegetable supplier base,” said Ashwin Prasad, Tesco’s Chief Product Officer. Only by collaborating with our suppliers and growers was it possible for us to reach this important milestone, so it is really encouraging to see how environmental improvements are already having an effect on farms throughout the UK.

We’re urging the entire food industry to join us in adopting consistent, improved environmental standards to ensure that the food we consume is produced sustainably around the world as we continue to roll out the LEAF Marque across our international supply chain.

The catastrophe facing the climate and ecosystems, according to Philip Wynn, Chairman and Acting CEO of LEAF, is one of the greatest problems facing humanity today. All over the globe, producers are searching for more environmentally friendly and sustainable methods of production, including retailers, consumers, food companies, and governments. In light of this, we are thrilled that Tesco is moving quickly towards achieving their lofty and expansive net-zero goals thanks to LEAF Marque certification. Building healthier, more productive soils, providing better air and water quality, and enhancing biodiversity empower growers to adopt more regenerative approaches.

A turning point has been reached with the ongoing implementation of LEAF Marque throughout Tesco’s entire global fresh produce supply chain. Some of the most creative and forward-thinking producers in the world are LEAF Marque certified growers. We continue to scale up our resources to assist Tesco’s fresh produce growers and look forward to working with them very much.

Tesco’s collaboration with LEAF is a key component of its strategy for reclaiming environment in food production.

The retailer has committed to reducing the environmental impact of the typical shopping basket in partnership with WWF, and the criteria for LEAF Marque certification are anticipated to hasten the achievement of that goal by enhancing environmentally friendly farming practises in global growing regions.

“Protecting and enhancing biodiversity on the farms we work with has always been central to our approach at Stourgarden – and the use of LEAF has helped us continuously improve how we look after things like soil and water use,” said George Rix, managing director of the third-generation family farming company. Over the past ten years, LEAF has also significantly increased the quantity and diversity of wildlife on our farms through the documentation of activities and the establishment of goals. The reintroduction of species like brown hares to the landscape is very promising.

GSN