The retailer Marks & Spencer is trialling robotically farmed parsnips which are due to be sold in stores from November, in a bid to reduce their carbon footprint and improve soil quality.
It is the first retailer to run an ‘autonomous field’ trial, in conjunction with long-term supplier, Huntapac, bringing together the latest technology to cultivate parsnips with a significantly lower environmental impact.
The technology includes two robots for bed farming, planting and weeding, two different types of drones to monitor and maintain crop health and the latest scientific testing on soil health and carbon impact on the farm in Yorkshire.
Technical and sustainability director at Huntapac, Stephen Shields, said: “Our 40-year relationship with M&S has gone from strength to strength and we couldn’t have done this project without the Plan A Accelerator Fund.
“Not only are we seeing a reduction of the carbon impact but more parsnips at higher quality, due to us being able to plant the seeds despite bad weather earlier this year.
“This would have a fantastic impact on our business at scale and we’re aiming to deliver multiple fields farmed this way for next season.”
Marks & Spencers
The team has also adopted a minimum till approach to reduce the release of carbon into the air and deploys green fertilizers which not only emit less carbon in production, but also converts nitrogen dioxide into nitrogen from the air, which plants use in turn for photosynthesis.
Initial results from the autonomous farm trial demonstrate a 46% reduction in carbon in comparison to traditional methods.
On top of the environmental benefits, the technology driven farming practice reduced the impact of poor weather conditions and improved quality and quantity of crop yields, with a 16% higher yield of grade one vegetables recorded in comparison to Huntapac’s other parsnip fields.
The autonomous technology was used to plant the field in March, following the wettest six months in England since 1871, which wouldn’t have been possible using a traditional tractor.
The farm also deployed various other initiatives from M&S’ Farming with Nature programme to improve biodiversity of both wildlife and the soil, including agrisound boxes and wildflower borders.
The trial was the first M&S Food project to be funded by the M&S Plan A Net Zero accelerator fund, which the retailer launched to find projects to help it achieve it’s net zero business goal across it’s whole supply chain by 2040.
Technical director Andrew Clappen, Andrew Clappen, said: “Innovation is at the heart of M&S Food and our Plan A Accelerator Fund offers us the opportunity to tap into the entrepreneurial spirit of our suppliers.
“Projects like this help us move towards being a Net Zero business across all our operations and entire supply chain by 2040, whilst focusing on the quality of produce that M&S is famous for.
“Agriculture is one of our biggest contributors to emissions, so it’s important that we find new lower impact farming methods.
“Trialling new ways to support our Plan A roadmap to Net Zero is an important step on the journey and this project has helped deliver more parsnips at M&S quality, a carbon reduction and brings together new technologies, which if adopted more widely would create more highly skilled jobs and attract new talent into the sector.”
