CorpComms Magazine

Asda is encouraging 13,500 farmers to switch to a revolutionary new high sugar grass in a bid to curb carbon emissions from cows and sheep by 186,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to taking 78,000 cars off the road.

The supermarket giant is offering its beef, lamb and dairy farmers a special discount on Aber High Sugar Grass which, according to laboratory tests, can cut methane emissions by 20 per cent per animal.

The agricultural sector currently accounts for more than 40 per cent of Britain's methane emissions. A cow emits between 80kg and 120kg of methane gas each year, equivalent to the annual carbon emissions from an average family car, mainly from its front, rather than rear, end.

The initiative is reminiscent of a move by Cadbury in 2009 when it worked with 65 dairy farmers in Wiltshire to reduce emissions from cattle after the Carbon Trust found that 60 per cent of Dairy Milk's carbon footprint emanated from the milk production.

Asda has been trialling the new grass at its demonstration farms, and will now offer farmers one free acre bag of high sugar grass seed for every ten acres purchased, which equates to a saving of £55 to £60 per ten acres. It claims the farmers will also save on bought-in feed, as the grass will fatten animals without the need to buy high energy cereals.

Pearce Hughes, agricultural manager at Asda, said: 'By introducing ABER HSG to our extensive British farming network, we will increase profitability by over £10 million in the first year alone - money in the pockets of farmers.'

The programme will also contribute to Asda's parent group Walmart's goal of removing 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gases from its supply chain.

share me: del.icio.us | digg | reddit | Tweet