Yara UK has today (Friday, June 23) announced a long-term collaboration with Simpsons Malt Ltd. and Varda aiming to “dramatically” reduce the carbon footprint of malting barley and distilling wheat production.
The agreement will involve the use of fossil-free green fertilisers and data-based precision farming.
Yara and Varda, an ag-tech company founded by Yara, will work with Simpsons Malt to reduce the environmental impact of leading global beer and whisky brands.
Carbon
One of the largest independent, family-owned malting companies in the world, Simpsons Malt is aiming to achieve carbon neutral malting barley and distilling wheat production by 2030.
The company produces around 300,000t of malt per year at its two malting sites.
The commitment is in response to consumer demand for greater transparency and decarbonisation of farming practices.
Andy Hindhaugh, commercial director of Simpsons Malt Ltd said that the company is “delighted” to be entering into this new collaboration.
“We are committed to minimising the environmental impact not only of our own operations, but throughout our wider supply chain.
“This exciting partnership gives us the opportunity to do exactly that, while also helping our brewing and distilling customers deliver on their own sustainability objectives.”
Yara
Yara estimates that the use of green fertiliser can reduce the carbon footprint of wheat crops by around 20%.
When this is combined with other innovations and best practices, the reductions can become even higher.
“Through our green fertilisers, digital tools, and research led agronomic advice, growers can improve nutrient use efficiency and actively contribute to the reduction of their CO2 footprint,” Jari Pentinmaki, managing director of Yara UK, said.
“We are excited to be collaborating with Simpsons Malt and Varda, as we all look towards a nature positive food future.”
The ag-tech start-up, Varda, will help growers with the use of its geospatial technology that enables the integration of field level data.
This includes the company Global Field ID system which assigns a unique identification number to each field or plot, reduces data fragmentation and supports data sharing.
“Agriculture is uniquely positioned to positively contribute to the climate crisis by reducing its carbon footprint and improving its productivity.
“We are proud to play our part in helping pioneering organisations such as Simpsons Malt in establishing a more transparent and collaborative food supply chain by organising and combining fragmented field data,’’ Davide Ceper, chief executive of Varda, added.
